Good Intentions
by ImpossibleLoves
Summary: It's definitely not love at first sight. Caroline Forbes is innocent, kind and full of light, whereas Klaus Mikaelson is ... the very reverse. But while a war between the good and the evil starts to rise in Mystic Falls, Caroline discovers the one person she cannot stand is the one man she may not be able to resist.
1. Chapter I

**Hey there! **

**First of all, thanks for checking out my story :)**  
**This is an AU - Klaroline fan fiction which may or may not be a bit influenced by Pride & Prejudice...**  
**What you basically need to know before reading is that **

**a) Caroline is NOT a vampire (...yet?)**

**and **

**b) some of the characters are slightly OOC - Caroline for example will be more dreamy than on the TV show, Elena more girlish and so on. But all of their most important features will be retained, no worries ;)**

**Oh and before I forget: I'm not a native speaker so please excuse my grammar! I bet you will find tons of mistakes in here, feel free to mention them to me.**

**So that's about it then. Hope you're enjoying this!**

* * *

_ "Welcome to the new age."_

_ ~ 'Radioactive' by Imagine Dragons ~_

* * *

„Miss Forbes?"

An angry voice cut off my day dreaming. Startled, I flinched and looked up.  
Every single one of the other girls in the room, who were practising for their coming-out party alongside of me, stopped what they had been doing before and turned around to stare at me in astonishment.

I shrinked, blushing.

Ms Alcott, my dancing instructor, put her hands on her hips and gave me her best Your-behaviour-is-so-not-lady-like-face.

„Are we disturbing your thoughts in any kind, Miss Forbes? Do you want us to put a hold on our training so you can go on fantasising about that gentleman you were just brooding over?"

I blushed, again.

It was probably nothing more than just a lucky guess but I had indeed been distracted thinking about a certain gentleman.  
Mr. Tyler Lockwood precisely.

I knew I should actually be concentrating on the dance steps so I wouldn't make a complete fool of myself in one week when we we're going to be introduced to society at the debutante ball – but I just couldn't help myself.

The way Tyler had looked at me this morning when I incidentally encountered him and his best friend Mr. Matt Donovan at the clock tower … just as if he truly

noticed my presence for the first time.

„I'm sorry, Ms Alcott", I hastened to say. „I got a bit sidetracked but it won't happen again, I promise."

„Well, I do hope so. Please show us all now how much of the dance you were able to incorporate."

* * *

When the dance lesson was finally over, I felt more relieved than ever. The past hour had been more than embarassing for me – it appeared that I was the only one who hadn't payed attention all the time and wasn't able to keep up with the other debutants.

My homework for the next days were – as Ms Alcott didn't get tired of repeating – to „exercise until I dropped dead". I made the mistake to confuse this for  
joke but in fact, she was more than serious about it.

„My grandmother already used to say that you haven't trained well unless you're not close to vomiting afterwards."

As I left her estate and entered the street, ice-cold wind blew into my face. I shivered and put on a white comforter.  
October had reached Mystic Falls and with it came autumn, my favourite time of the year.

I enjoyed long walks through the rough landscape at this season more than at any other and the dark-tingled dresses my maid picked out for me then were always the most comfortable ones.

„Miss Forbes? Caroline?"

Someone called out my name from behind. I paused and turned.

The girl who was rushing to catch up with me had dark, flossy hair, hazel eyes and red cheeks – she was utterly beautiful and I immediately recognized her asMs Elena Gilbert, whom Ms Alcott had praised to the skies earlier because of her graceful dancing skills and her perfect curtsying.

She stopped racing abreast of me and gave me a entrancing smile.

„Thank you for waiting! I hope you're not in a hurry, I just wanted to talk to you so badly."

„Why?", I asked confused.

„I don't know." Her smile turned a bit shy. „It's just … I … you seem to be the only human there, you know? And I'm not referring to the fact that some of these

girls are vampires."

I soaked in my breath. Had Little Miss Sunshine just used the V-word? In public? My parents surely would've killed me if they ever heard me doing that. Knowing about Vampires was one thing. In a town like Mystic Falls you just couldn't avoid it. But talking about them … that was quite another matter.

I opened my mouth to give Elena a section of my mother's passionate anti-mentioning-vampires -speech but then I closed it abruptly. And grinned instead.

„You know, you're actually the first person I've heard saying that word out loud since years! That's kind of refreshing."

Elena sighed with relief. „Thank the lord – you're not one of those people who pretend not to know what I'm talking about. Believe me, that has happenedbefore. A bit ridiculous, if you ask me. What other explanation is there for all those exsanguinate dead bodies that were found out of town so many times?!"

„Oh, I think the official declaration is that they're victims of some maniac with a dracula-complex."

This time we both couldn't stop laughing.

After some minutes we found ourselves walking arm in arm as if we had know each other since little kids, gossiping about balls, vampires, dresses and the

other girls in our dancing class. To my amazement, we agreed about all of them. „Bonnie Bennett and Anna seem very nice though I hardly know them", Elena

concluded. „But I don't know what to make of Victoria Donovan. And I'm positive I don't like Miss Katherine Pierce."

I frowned. „Isn't she related to you? You two look so much alike."

„I know, everybody says that." Elena didn't sound very pleased but even when she was dissatisfied, her angelic face still looked pretty. „She is sort of my cousin. Well, a cousin of a my cousin's cousin or something. I don't really get it. Anyway, my mother has adopted her to our family because her parents died.

That was 2 years ago and believe me, I've never been completely happy again since then."

„She certainly appears to be difficult sometimes", I responded and thought of the way Katherine had watched my dancing today with a scornful smile. Almost as if it entertained her to see me fail.

I mentioned this to Elena and she nodded grimly. „Believe me, Katerine can't stand competition."

That made me chuckle. „Competition? Are you serious? Have you seen me today?"

„Yes, I have." Her huge eyes scrutinized me. „You weren't good but only because you didn't even try. If you would, I bet you could be chosen queen of the

debutant ball in the blink of an eye."

Desair preoccupied me for a moment.

Just the thought of becoming queen seemed too good to be true. I would get crowned and have the opportunity to lead the last dance with the man who'dpurchase me by auction in front of everyone.

Officially, this tradition had become established to earn extra charity money for the next ball; unofficially, they only performed this to incite all debutants to give their best at the introduction dance so every family could be proud of their offsprings.

Though I figured their dirty motives out long ago, I wasn't capable of withdrawing this contest. Ambitious was my second name and I somehow knew that this was my only chance of catching Tyler's attention once and for all.

„There. You're doing it again. Day-dreaming."

As Elena's voice dragged me back into reality, I directly felt cheap. But then I saw the twinkle in her eyes and realized that she was only teasing me.

„Actually, I was thinking about what you just said", I told her and smiled. „I think you're maybe right – I really haven't been giving the dance training my best shot. Maybe it's time that I do. Do you think it was possible if you helped a bit with that?"

She nodded joyfully. „Of course! Let's start tomorrow! If one of us can beat Katherine, then it sure is you … and I couldn't live a day longer under one roof with

her if she actually won and rubbed it into my face all the time."

„Well, then I call it a date. Mission Beating Katherine starts tomorrow!"

* * *

I had been five years old when the first vampire had been killed in front of eyes at my grandmother's birthday party.

One month later, my father had started my training.

Though I never killed a vampire myself before, I knew perfectly well how to do it. I knew their strengths, their weaknesses and all of their dirty little tricks to get under your skin.

They could be harmless at times, even friendly maybe. But after all, they weren't human. They didn't have a soul anymore and I had been taught not to ever forget that.

Seven years ago, when the vampire problem in our town had increased so much that it couldn't be ignored or just killed away anymore, the council members decided to consent to a peace treaty between themselves and the leaders of the vampire families: No more vampire hunting in exchange for an animal blood diet on their side.

Though this treaty wasn't expected to last very long, it hadn't been broken ever since. Not even a single time. Sure there had been some „incidents" but no real harm had been made.

The cohabitang of vampires and humans worked incredibly well here but none the less my father didn't allow me to leave the house without a wooden stake bound to my thigh and hidden under my wavy dresses „just in case". I hoped with all my heart that the day where I actually had to use it lay far, far away in the future.

I wasn't born a fighter, I was made one. I had never dared to tell my parents but my true nature despised slaying in general, regardless if it were vampires or

humans who crossed my way.

So when I entered the forest path which I had to take half a mile on my way back to our property, I knew I had to be careful. Though I loved the mysterious beauty of the woods, I was aware that it could be just as dangerous as it was enchanting.

The euphoria I felt since my little chat with Elena still lasted which was why I forgot my fears quickly and let my thoughts drift away again. Whenever I wanted to collect my notions or reason something out thoroughly, I went outside for a walk on the fields and through the valleys. Nothing calmed me down better than fresh air, the wind in my hair and the sight of infinite colors around me.

I was just about to leave the woods, when suddenly _something_ made me stop abruptly.

It wasn't much more than an uncertain feeling but it was so strong that it made my flesh crawl.

My breathing advanced.

Someone was watching me. I couldn't tell exactly why I knew that but I was 100 percent sure of it. That was the weird part about it. I didn't see or hear anything but I felt someone's eyes on me as if they were touching my bare skin.

I compiled all my courage and spun around.

The alley behind me was desolated and silent. Some leaves were whirled up and I saw the trees move slightly along with the wind but I couldn't spot who or _what_ was responsible for my goosebumps.

Although this should have calmed me down, the exact opposite happened instead – I freaked out even more. Without hesitation I let my hand slip under my dress and fumbled for the stake.

The moment I pulled it out of its attachment, I heard a low growl somewhere in the shrubs. A whimper escaped my mouth. My grip around the stake tightened.

„Whoever you are", I called out, sounding braver than I actually felt. „Come one step closer and I'll rip off your throat."

Though that didn't come out as convincing as I'd wished, the person lurking in the trees didn't try to test my threat.  
There wasn't the slightest movement.

I took this as a sign to better get out of here before that lunatic decided elsewise. I gathered my skirts and started running as fast as I could.

* * *

The following days were so exhausting that I didn't have much time to think about that scary silvan scene again.

Elena was a very relentless teacher. None of us was eager to practise dancing in a house where Katherine was present, so we were meeting at my place every morning at the same time – way too early for my taste.

Since the Gilberts were also council members, my parents welcomed Elena with delight as a houseguest and continually invited her to stay for dinner.

Soon she became something like the sister I never had.

A very challenging and rigid sister, though.

„You're doing it all wrong" and „I don't care if your feet hurt, we are going to do this once again" were her favourite sentences.

Astonishingly, her instructions showed success. Even Ms Alcott noticed my improvement.

„Girls, do take a look at the way Miss Forbes is doing this part and follow her example", she said the last day before the ball. „If you are all doing as great as her tomorrow, I'm going to be very proud of you."

The look Katherine shot me was pure gift. „I don't know what you're trying to prove her", she hissed to me after the lesson was over when all the girls started chattering excitedly. „But you're not stealing my show tomorrow. You are no real rival. The judges don't watch out for skills only, they concentrate on appearance, too and I'm way prettier than you are."

I glanced her directly into the eyes. „Then why are you so nervous?"

This shut her up for a while but I still didn't feel very triumphantly.

„She is right, you know?", I told Elena afterwards. „She's probably gonna win them all over with a deep décolletage and her alluring smile."

„Oh, please! You have so much more to offer than that."

„I'm glad at least someone believes in me", I sighed.

Elena didn't respond and it stroke me that she had been a bit absent-minded the whole day.

„What is up with you?", I asked. „Are you okay?"

This time, she sighed. „I don't know. It's just … I …"

„Come on!" I laughed and shoved her. „We are friends. You can tell me everything."

She gave me a very serious look. „But you have to promise me you won't say a word to anybody!"

„Of course not!" I cocked my eyebrows. Elena slowly started to worry me.

„I think I am in love with someone." Her voice trembled. „But he … he is already engaged to another girl."

I stared at her speechlessly. I definitely hadn't seen that one coming. She didn't seem to be the kind of person who developed feelings for someone lightly and if she loved him even though she knew it was wrong, it must be a great deal for her.

„Who? I mean, who is it?"

She shook her head. „You probably don't know him. He's a visitor of my father and has just been in Mystic Falls for a few months. But I'm gonna introduce you to him tomorrow." Pain crossed her face. „And to his fiancée, I guess."

Pity captured me and I hugged her spontaneously. I could only imagine what it must feel like loving someone and knowing at the same time that it was not possible to ever be with that person. Already the thought of it made me sad and I wasn't even the one affected.

„You'll get through this", I whispered into her ear. „You will wear your finest dress tomorrow, dance with everybody who ask you to, laugh a lot and have fun. And whenever you see them together, you won't let this get to you. Do you hear me? Tomorrow is one of the most important days of your life and this … situation is not going to ruin it for you. I'll make sure of that myself if I have to!"

„Thanks, Caroline." Her expression was still gloomy but my little speech seemed to have cheered her up a bit. „I don't know what I would do without you."

* * *

It was almost midnight and I still couldn't seem to find any sleep.

Tomorrow would brim over with the fitting of my clothes and shoes and the general rehearsal. In addition to the high pressure of making an impression on my family, Tyler and the judges , came the fact that there wouldn't be a single moment left for me to be alone.

I loved being around people but every now and then I needed to take a break and knowing that there was no time for that tomorrow made me even more nervous than I already was.

Restlessly I rolled around in my bed and stared at the ceiling.

It was a full moon wherefore my room was so light that I could even see the artful ornaments. Somewhere near the house I heard a timber wolf bawl. The noise made me shiver.

I turned my head, steadied it on the huge, soft pillow and watched the moon shining directly through my window. It looked so mysterious in its bright beauty…The wolf howled again, this time a bit deeper. I couldn't tell why but I found the sound of his husky voice somewhat comforting.

My eye lids became heavy. Cozily I closed them. My breathing slowed down… and the next minute

sleep finally took me over.


	2. Chapter II

**So, here is my 2nd chapter! Hope you enjoy it :) I will do my best to update this story weekly but I can't promise you anything, especially not when university's about to start in 3 weeks again...**

**If you like this story, please let me know - reviews speed the writing process A LOT :D**

* * *

_"What you don't know, _  
_ is that I loved you long before we were alive."_

_~ 'What You Don't Know' by Monrose ~_

* * *

„Stand still! No laughing. And hold you breath – I want to make this dress as tight as possible."

Though Lucy was my maid, her intonation was so commanding that you could easily suppose it was the other way around and _I_ was the one serving _her_.

With a concentrated mien and a pin in her hand, she kneeled next to me in the middle of my room and whipped the waist of my gown. Since I wasn't going to change out of it until the ball was over, it didn't matter anymore that the cloth would unavoidably rip when I had to take it off. I couldn't put it on twice anyway, no matter how much it appealed to me.

Most ladies at the event tonight would forget my face the very moment I got past them but what I had worn would stick in their minds forever.

Admiringly I stroked the cream-colored crinoline. There where many reasons why I was overly eager for this evening to start already but the knowledge that I would be wearing this elegant ball dress surely added much to the excitement. Compared to other dresses, the color was rather inconspicuous, yet it suited my complexion and made my hair look even lighter than it actually did. The sleeves leaded to my wrist which was why the angular neckline was shaped more generous than usual.

My mother had bought it for me and she assuredly had done a good job by picking it.

„I said: _Don't breathe_." Lucy sighed out loud. „Can you please follow my orders? In other respects all my efforts are for nothing."

I rolled my eyes. „I'm human, I have to breathe. Otherwise I'll die."

„Think you're very smart, huh? You totally got my point, Miss."

„Good afternoon, Mesdames!"

The door to my bed chamber burst open and my father accessed the room vociferously.

„Hopefully you did not inherit your gracefulness from him", Lucy muttered under her breath.

I sniggered. He definitely wasn't what you'd call the daintiest person on earth.

„Ah, Caroline, you're fully dressed - thank god!", my father exclaimed. „I take it, we can leave soon then?"

„Are you insane?!" Lucy's jaw dropped open disbelievingly . „She isn't made up at all and I still haven't decided what do to with her hair. She is far from …" Her voice trailed off when she saw the laughter in his face. „Oh. You were joking."

„Actually just partly, we are in fact a bit late. Do you think you could speed the beautification process?"

Lucy didn't seem to be very sold on that idea. „Hm. I'll do my best."

„Great." Before he left again, my father gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. „You look perfect, darling. I have a feeling you're going to break a lot of hearts tonight."

* * *

It was already dark outside when Lucy was finally through with me. Contentedly she leaned back and examined my appearance. Then she nodded. „You are ready. See for yourself."

I turned to look into the mirror and froze.

„What have you done with my hair?"

„Don't you like it?" Disappointment crossed her face. „I was just a little experiment of mine but we can still change it if you want to."

„No, no! That's not it at all. It's gorgeous. You are a genius, Lucy."

Blankly I eyed up my reflection. Lucy had braided my bangs artistically aback and then fixed my hair in a low, fluffy bun. Some streaks had already escaped it and swirled around my face. The result of her amount of work surpassed all of my expectations.

„Now hurry, you don't want to be late for your first dance!"

Nervousness hit me all of a sudden. _My first dance… _Hopefully many would follow after that. Even a debutante was only allowed to dance if someone requested her to.

As I went down the stairs, the heads of both my parents and our coachman turned.

I saw the eyes of my mother twinkle with tears as she took in my semblance. „I'm already so proud of you, Caroline", she assured me and took my hands in hers.

My father who felt always uncomfortable during emotional scenes coughed slightly. „The carriage is awaiting us. Come on, girls."

* * *

The Lockwood's mansion was set to host this year's coming-out party which meant huge luck for us debutantes since they owned the largest ball room of all families in town.

From afar I could catch a glance at the radiant light that escaped their high windows. It illuminated the enigmatic blackness of the garden and got the white marble fountains on the balconies to sparkle.

As our carriage drove beside the main staircase the sound of chattering people, laughter and violins cut through to me and a thrill of anticipation immediately grabbed me.

My father hopped out of the coach and reached out his hand to assist first me, then my mother with alighting.

„Good evening." An attendant was directly on the spot to greet us and lead away the carriage.

I betted the Lockwoods could afford a single one for each of their guests. Tyler certainly wouldn't be a bachelor for very long – apart from his good looks, he could put forward prosperity without end.

My mother seemed to be thinking along the same lines. „Oh my, I pity whoever has to follow in the footsteps of the Lockwoods next year by organizing the ball. That won't be an easy job to do."  
„Well, then let's pray it's not going to be us", my father quipped.

We climbed up the stairs while behind us the next visitors arrived.

The ball room overflowed with groups of people. Striking lusters were suspended from the ceiling with one multi-layered chandelier pointing at the centre of the hall. Wherever I looked, I saw nothing but well-dressed lords, rigged old ladies or beaming girls, engaged into conversation with one another or hiding their amusement about something - or rather someone - behind their hand-held fans. This was the society I was going to be introduced to today. This was my home.

„Caroline, there you are!"

Anna went by me in a white, very fashionable dress, hooked into a brown-haired boy I recognized as Elena's younger brother Jeremy Gilbert. „Our dance is starting in a few, Ms Alcott is collecting us all in the atrium."

„Thanks, I'll be right there", I responded.

She smiled at me, than vanished into the crowd again, never letting go of Jeremy.

„Who is going to be _your_ partner for the dance, darling?", my mother stated the same question I had just been asking myself.

„I don't know yet", I told her. „The men who volunteered to take us will be waiting with Ms Alcott, I guess."

My parents wished me good luck before I made my way to the end of the hall where highly adorned portals lead to the front of the Lockwood's property. I backed out and found myself in the atrium between my fellow debutantes and some boys our age in genteel suits.

„Over her, Care!" Elena waved me. She wore her hair pinned-up, too but in a more casual way than me. Her dress, a rush of gold and black, suited her very well.

Next to her was a man I had never seen before, which meant a lot, considering the fact that Mystic Falls was a small town. He set himself apart from the others around him due to his calm, but confident presence and I noticed some girls jealously staring daggers at Elena for having hooked him.

„Caroline, this is Mr. Stefan Salvatore", Elena introduced him as soon as I stood before them. „Stefan, this is Caroline Forbes, my dear friend."

I wasn't sure if it was the shaking of her voice who gave her away or just her tense behavior but I suddenly knew without doubt that this was the man she had told me about, the one she was in love with.

With awakening interest I surveyed Stefan. He bowed to me and returned my regard with a raise of his eyebrow. „I'm glad to finally meet you, Miss Forbes. I've heard so many things about you."

I had to bite my tongue to hold my „I've heard some stuff about you, too" back – for Elena's sake.

„I hope you're enjoying Mystic Falls, Mr. Salvatore", I said instead. "It's very quiet here."

He laughed and looked around himself. „Not from what I've seen so far."

_Touché_.

„Stefan is going to be escorting me during the first dance", Elena told me with warm glowing eyes.

An „Oh" escaped my mouth before I could suspend myself. I automatically wondered who had asked whom and what his fiancée would think of this. Was she even here tonight?

Questions over questions but I couldn't ask a single one of them out loud.

„Girls, Girls, be silent for a moment please!" Ms Alcott clapped her hands impatiently. „We have dozens of young men here who are more than willing to accompany you but I don't want this selection to become a big production, we don't have time for that. Do you understand me? Choose your partner and then get yourself in line as quickly as possible, please. _NOW_!"

Utter confusion erupted. I knew this wasn't the moment to be shy and watched out for Tyler. I found him literally torn between two girls – Victoria Donovan and a brunette I didn't know very well – who seemed to be arguing which one of them had gotten to him first. Seriously?

_When __two __people __quarrel, __a __third __rejoices._

I gathered my frock and all my courage and walked up to him. „Mr. Lookwood?"

Three heads turned at the same time to face me.

„Miss Forbes." Tyler quickly bowed, just as elegantly as Stefan.

„Would you be so kind as to escort me to the dance?"

Victoria gaped. „No, he most definitely will _not_ - …"

„Yes", he answered me quickly.

Just a simple word but it changed so much.

I could feel a huge smile rise on my face as he offered me his arm. Not even the furious faces of the girls were able to mar my mood in this very moment.

I aligned myself with him straight after Elena and Stefan. Seeing my friend enter the ball room first would hopefully take a little of my tension away. In my mind's eye I went over the order of the dance steps again for the 1000th time today. They weren't very hard to memorize per se but in my current constitution, I couldn't garantuee for anything.

"Girls, may I have your attention?" Ms Alcott put her hand on the portal's handle. "I see that by now all of you have managed to find a dancing partner, even if it took some longer than others." She glared explicitly into Victoria's direction who looked as if she had just taken a bite out of a lemon. "Now collect yourselfs, your introduction is about to start now."

* * *

The doors flew open. I could hear my own heartbeat loud and clear. My hands became sweaty.

This was _it_. The moment I had been anticipating since … well, forever it seemed like.

"Are you okay?", Tyler aksed with a concerned face.

He must have noticed my trembling.

"I am not so sure. I'm quite nervy."  
He seemed to search for words to cheer me up but couldn't find any. I ignored the stitch of disappointment which I felt immediately. He was a boy, for heaven's sake, I reminded myself. They never had a dab hand at couching things in terms.

"Miss Evelyn Graves, escorted by Mr. Henry Mills", I heard the grand marshal proclaim.

The first girl and her companion disappeared into the brightness of the hall. Some "Aww"'s and "Oh"'s were uttered but apart from that the crowd remained quiet so that they didn't miss out on the announcement of the succeeding debutantes.

"Miss Annabelle Lorring, escorted by Mr. Jeremy Gilbert."

"Miss Bonnie Bennett, escorted by Mr. Matthew Donovan."

With every name that was spoken and every girl that subsequently vanished, my excitement grew.

"Miss Lillian Densham, escorted by Mr. Samuel Hensley."

"Miss Christine Allington, escorted by Mr. Thomas Preston."

And finally: "Miss Elena Gilbert, escorted by Mr. Stefan Salvatore."

I saw how Elena's shoulders strained before she let Stefan lead her into the middle of the room ahead of us. All betrothed ones aside, they were certainly a lovely couple. I cordially granted her this brief moment of felicity where she could allow herself to forget that he was already taken and not hers to be but at the same time I bothered about what would happen afterwards when this dance was over.

I didn't have the time though to prosecute this thought due to the fact that the grand marshal rivetted on Tyler and me now.

"Miss Caroline Forbes, escorted by Mr. Tyler Lockwood."  
Heads turned, eyes sharpened, silence spread out.

Tyler ushered me along. Light dazzled me for an instant as I faced the candles and diamonds of the lusters. I blinked and looked around myself.

Everyone was staring at us. I had never been very fainthearted but being the focus of all the attention at once made me uneasy. My legs shook and if it hadn't been for Tyler's hard grasp on my hand, I'd probably stumbled.

I was so overwhelmed that I didn't even notice how the girls following us got called out. Quite suddenly we all stood side by side at the hall's centre in front of our escorts and the first chimes of the music started. The dance was the obvious choice, a viennese waltz – but as simple as it might appear, I knew that the judges who were looking at us right now could tell which of us effectively performed it well and which didn't.

As soon as I heard the familiar sonority of the composition, I felt my flurry decline straightaway.

This was my moment to shine and to show everyone what I was capable of.

Petulantly I was forced to realise that Tyler wasn't nearly as talented as a dancer as he was fetching: More than once he accidentally trod on my feet or did not keep stroke. The worst part, however, was that he didn't even see his misconduct or apologized for it but actually had the nerve to frown at me when I dragged him into the right direction of the choreography.

I groaned frustrated and very unladylike.

At that precise moment I heard someone chuckle. I looked up at a particular man I had never seen in my life before standing at the edge of the crowd and staring at me. He didn't seem the slightest bit embarrassed that I caught him laughing at me or averted his gaze. Instead he just kept watching me with this amused expression in his face as if he could read my most private thoughts or knew how I looked like naked.

Idignantly I raised one eyebrow at him.

Who did he think he was?

He returned my glance steady. With every rotation I faced him again and again and not once did his eyes leave mine. It was as annoying as it as fascinating for I found myself equally unable to look the other way. Almost as if he had a magnetic appeal with me.

His face was so handsome that you just as well could have discovered it on a Renaissance painting. Dark eyes, light brown hair, with cheekbones to die for and red, soft lips. Like all the other gentlemen he was dressed in a black suit although his one seemed more expensive than the usual and fitted his strong, muscular body so perfectly that it had to be customized.

I could not help myself but wonder whose guest he was and how long he was going to stay in Mystic Falls.

Our eye contact finally broke off when the violins stopped playing.

At the close of the dance Tyler barged against me as we took up our starting position. I flinched painfully and examined my dress to check if everything was still in place.

When I raised my head again and searched for the stranger, he was gone. His place had been taken by other men who applauded cheerfully.

* * *

**So, the ball is not over yet :D I just have to divide it into chapters cause the scenes became longer than I imagined them to be! **

**And no worries, I didn't forget that this is a KC- Fan Fiction - next chapter you're in for many, maaaany scenes of these two, I promise ;)**

**PLEASE REVIEW 3**


	3. Chapter III

**I'm so sorry for the long wait! I was away on a trip & it took me a bit longer to write this part - the first real KC interaction ;)**

**Again, if you like this (or even if you don't) - please let me know why and REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW *puppy-eyes*  
**

**This helps me a lot!  
**

**Junia xxx  
**

* * *

_"It's the wrong kind of place to be thinking of you."_

_~ '9 Crimes' by Damien Rice ~_

* * *

Right after the dance ended, the orchestra started playing the next song. Some girls remained with their escorts while most headed off to talk to acquaintances or to pay the buffet a visit.

I had no intention of going for a second round with Tyler anytime soon wherefore I swiftly dropped a curtsy and left the floor.

One of the aimlessly wandering butlers passed me by and I picked a champagne glass from his tray. While I took a sip, I accidentally crashed into someone who was running past me.

„Um, _excuse_ me?" The girl considered me in disgust. „."Kindly watch your step!"

She had her long, smooth, blonde hair undone and wore an extravagant, green dress. If it hadn't been for her arrogant facial expression, she would have been angelically beautiful.

I was just about to defend myself angrily when I noticed the man next to her whose arm she'd clutched in a possessive manner. It was none other than Stefan Salvatore.

Realisation hit me. „Are you two engaged?", I babbled before I could stop myself.

The girl looked even more annoyed than before. „Of course we are. Just because he took pity on that little Gilbert and accompanied her, he is nowhere near on offer."

„That little Gilbert happens to be my friend, so take care of your words", I fired back. „Apart from that, Stefan and her cut a good figure on the dancefloor, if you ask me."

„Well, I'm not asking you!", she sizzled.

„Rebekah, please." Stefan put a hand on her arm to hold her back. „No need to be all territorial."

The look he shot me was apologetic but there was also another message hidden in his eyes: _Leave this one alone._

I sniffed. Fine with me! This was his business and I wasn't very eager to spend a moment longer in this woman's company anyway. I downed my drink in one swig and decided that I needed to go and get some fresh air. The entrances and exits to the ball room all lead to various balconies and I chose one way out that seemed most secluded. I didn't feel like making small talk right now, especially not after this fairly underwhelming dance with Tyler.

I just needed to be alone for a moment.

Once I was outside, the cold air gave me the shivers. I walked to the marginal balustrade and took a look around. The garden – or rather the _park_ – of the Lockwood's was veritably spectacular at night. Lanterns lit the atmosphere and cast long shadows on the paths. Except for some chirping crickets it was entirely silent and I enjoyed the peacefulness.

I was just about to return to the ball again when the glass door opened and a couple entered the gallery. It was dark but I recognized the girl by her high-pitched laugh immediately: it was Victoria, probably accompanied by one of her ardent worshippers. I rolled my eyes and meant to catch their attention before anything inappropriate happened in front of me, when the man finally stepped into the light.

My heart tensed up.

It was my stranger. The one who had observed Tyler and me dancing.

It defied any explanation but I felt somehow disappointed in him. He shouldn't be one of those men who were chasing girls like Victoria. That just didn't seem right.

I pressed myself against the exterior wall so that the shadows swallowed me up. I didn't want to have to listen to their conversation but even less I wanted him to see me right now – I was afraid that my hurt expression would betray my feelings.

"I should really go back inside", Victoria giggled. "This is so improper. You and me - alone. Anything could happen…"

_Oh, please. _I suppressed an angry snort._ This is so cheap, even for you, Victoria. _

"You are right, love", I heard the man reply with a heavy, British accent. "Anything."  
And with that he bared his fangs and steeped them into her neck.

* * *

I was too shocked to scream. My jaw dropped as I watched him draining her blood out while her face grew paler and paler. Her hands, which were just now trying to shove him away, fell down and her body became lifeless in his deadly embrace.

He had killed her. This man whose face I had found attractive only seconds ago had killed Victoria.

I trembled in every limb. Fear changed into rage. "Monster!"

The word was out before I could bite it back.

His head shot up and he immediately abandoned her. I gave a start as I caught side of his eyes that were huge and fully black. This was what death must look like.

"Now what have we got here?" His sharp, white teeth formed a smile. "Haven't your parents ever told you that it is rude to eavesdrop, Miss Forbes?"

He knew my name. I didn't know if that was a bad or a good sign. "Haven't _your_ parents ever told _you_ that it is rude to slay people?", I responded and hoped that my voice didn't sound too shaky.

He chuckled. "Such spirit, sweetheart. But this young lady here is far from dead, she merely fainted. What kind of person would I be if I killed someone on the day of their coming-out party?"

"You are not a person", I hissed. "You're a vampire."

My hands jerked to my knife but within in a blink he stood right before me and contained my wrist viselike.

"Don't even think about it." His tone was hard and baneful. "I see no need to tear off that pretty head of yours but you leave me with no other choice if you don't behave yourself."  
I glared at him.

No one had ever talked to me like that, no one. "You seem to enjoy making threats", I said low, my voice thick of emotions. "But I have never once in my life submitted to someone out of fear. I won't back down this time either."

He didn't respond right away but just looked down at me for a moment, like he couldn't quite believe his eyes. "I see", he whispered.

I suddenly noticed that his hand was still on mine but the violent grasp had lost all of its force. Instead his touch was almost soft. His fingers moved just the tiniest bit as if he wanted to caress me.

Before I could find out if that was his intention, I withdrew from the contact, appalled by myself – these were the exact same hands that had been so cruel to an innocent girl moments before and now I permitted him to touch me with those. What had gotten into me?

"Don't ever do that again", I hissed, not sure if I was addressing him or myself.

Before he could say something, the balcony door opened again. This time it was a very worried-looking Elena who entered the gallery.

"Caroline, are you … – " She came to an abrupt halt as she spotted my stranger and me with Victoria's inanimate body at our feet. Even in the dark I could see her swallow deep.

"The debutantes' queen is going to be announced soon", she told me constrained. "I thought you should know."

I broke away from my solidification. "Yes." I blinked. "I'm coming."

Without looking at him I left his side. I could feel his gaze following me but he didn't try to stop us from leaving. Even though he surely was able to, he didn't kill Elena and me because we were witnesses of his loss of control. He let us go.

"Are you crazy?", Elena yelled at me as soon as we were back in the main hall. "What were you thinking, standing there and actually talking to him? He. Is. Dangerous."

I had never seen her so angry before. Her cheeks had changed color; they were dark red now while the rest of her face was just as white as Victoria's when she'd been unconscious. Two gentlemen standing close to us broke their conversation and stared curiously at us.

"Please calm down!", I begged. "People can hear you. I don't want to draw attention to …"

"Well, that's unfortunate", Elena interrupted me. "Because when it comes to the Originals, you're always going to draw attention."

"The Originals?", I asked confused. I couldn't really follow her.

"Yes." Her voice had become quieter. "That's who _he_ is – an Original. A Mikaelson. Don't tell me you've never heard of this family before!"

I realized she was referring to my stranger. "In Fact, I haven't. Enlighten me, please."

Elena took a deep breath. "The Originals are the oldest vampires on earth. They are the strongest and most powerful vampire family you will ever encounter and it is better not to pick a fight with them unless you have a serious death wish." She shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know what you were doing there with Klaus Mikaelson but I can assure you that it is better for you not to ever talk to him again."

At the same moment the balcony door behind us opened again and – speaking of the devil – it was my stranger who had decided to come out now. Klaus, as Elena had called him. Klaus Mikaelson.

Luckily he did not look at me this time but made his way calmly to a group of four people standing near to the marble stairs. Among them I recognized Stefan and Rebekah.

"She is Stefan's fiancée." Elena sounded sad, as she followed my glance. "But also Klaus' sister. You see now why I'm in such a dilemma? Even if Stefan should decide to break the engagement and run off with me, we would never be safe. They would get their revenge, sooner or later. No one hurts an Original without punishment. "

Rebekah chose this precise moment to laugh light-heartedly at something Klaus had just said. She bridled up and her long hair danced around her face. He shook his head, smiling brightly and obviously teasing her. Both looked very attractive, confident and unobtainable at once. I began to understand the true meaning of Elena's words.

"He fed on Victoria Donovan", I informed her. "Which is forbidden. And he didn't ask for her permission. Which is even more forbidden."

She nodded. "I figured so much."

"But he didn't kill her. Why?"

Had he really been kidding me when he told me that he didn't kill any girls at their coming-out party or was this his great moment of confession?

Elena just shrugged. "Who knows, he'll have his motives. But they shouldn't be any of your concern, Care. Please promise me that you're not going to talk to him, Rebekah or their siblings." She pointed to the other two dark-haired men in the group. "They are dangerous, all of them."

Her big, brown eyes practically implored me to say yes. She looked exactly like a puppy yearning for a hug or something to eat.

"Don't worry." I sighed and smiled. "I have no desire to become their next snack anyway."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I ask for your attention?" Mrs. Carol Lockwood had climbed up to a little platform in the middle of the hall and now waved her hand in a very ridiculous way that made both Elena and me giggle. Around us several heads turned to face her while the music and the chatter stopped at once. "This year's queen of the debutantes is chosen and I would very much like to announce her now."

* * *

**So, I hope this was worth the wait! :D**

** I aaaalso have a request for you this time: are there any characters that you found interesting in this FF & would like to read more about?  
Cause I'm going to explore the fate of some of the other characters/ships deeper, too - not only KC ;)**

**I know that I haven't included Damon yet and I'm deeply sorry - I don't even know why cause he's one of my favorite characters. But so far I didn't find a way to bring him in but he's definitely going to be in future chapters! :D**

**Junia xxx**


	4. Chapter IV

**Hello my lovely readers,**

**First of all: SORRY for not uploading sooner! 2 months, wow, I promise to never let it get that far again. I've been terribly uninspired and lazy but thanks to AddriannaDestiny's review, I found my inspiration again ;) You should really check out her stories, they're great!**

**I hope this chapter can make up a bit for the long wait. **

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW please :D**

**Much love, Junia**

* * *

_"A simple word, a gesture. Someone to say you're beautiful."_

_~ 'Save The Hero' by Beyoncé ~_

* * *

The ball room became quiet immediately. The tension which was suddenly in the air was virtually tangible as all the debutantes swarmed forwards to get a better look at the podium.

"Ouch", I could hear a man close by whimper. Katherine had apparently trod on his foot while trying to literally punch her way through the crowd to get a better view. Her face wore an eager yet sublime expression that reminded me again of all the reasons why I'd rather die than seeing _her_ win.

With pounding heart I rivet on Mrs. Lockwood again.

"And … the queen of this year's out-coming party … "

No one spoke.

"… is …."

No one even _breathed_.

"Miss Caroline Forbes."

It took me some time to realize that it was my name she had called. Not Katherine's, not Elena's nor anybode else's. Mine.

Applause rose. People stood up on tiptoes to get a glimpse of me. I could feel my face heat and was dead certain that this year's queen of the debutantes was as red as a tomatoe right now but I didn't care – I did it. I had won. And it felt better than I had ever imagined it to feel like. Just as I started to walk towards the podium and felt everyone's eyes on me, I realized how much this moment truly meant to me.  
"Please, Miss Forbes, come to me." With a smile, Mrs. Lockwood waved me nearer and I somehow managed not to stumble when I obeyed her instruction.  
"As many of you know", I heard her say from far away, "it is tradition that a dance with our respective queen can be won by an auction. This year's purchased money is going to benefit the children's home of Mystic Falls, so I suggest not to be tightfisted, gentlemen."  
Renewed clapping of hands occurred while an elder man whom I could identify as a jury's member climbed the podium.

"We're going to begin in a small way", he declared and gave a little cough. "Who bids 20 pounds for a bout with this lovely young lady?"

Relief captured me when I watched several hands shooting up. A tiny little part of me had been afraid of the humiliation to not be wanted by any men, even though I knew it was ridiculous – every queen of the debutantes was desired by default.

"30 pounds?"

Almost every hand stayed up in the air. It was too crowded to be able to make out all of their faces but I was certain Tyler was one of them. At this point I wasn't even sure if I liked it or not.

"50 pounds?"

Only five hands didn't fall down this time. My heart started beating faster. Last year's queen had been "sold" for 75 pounds and even though I knew it was a bit ridiculous I suddenly wanted nothing more than to beat her.

"I'm bidding 80 pounds on Miss Forbes."

Heads whipped around to spot the man whom this husky voice belonged to. He stood in the middle of the lot and appeared rather pleased with himself. His face looked familiar but it took me a moment to realize where I had seen him before - he was one of the two men Elena had referred to as Klaus' siblings, the younger one who was now scrutinizing me with a vicious grin that made me flinch from him. Even though I hadn't exchanged a single word with him yet, I was all of a sudden very certain that I did not want to share a dance with him. The way he had called me 'Miss Forbes' somehow sounded not gallant at all but more like an insultment.

Caught off guard the judge next to me kept still. It was very uncommon that the auction was interrupted by a gentleman submitting a tender without being asked, in fact it was even considered rude and impolite and he was apparently indecisive how to react.  
Before he had time to collect himself and resond, another bidding got delivered.

"100 pounds!"

This was undoubtfully Tyler speaking. I saw him now standing close by with a smug look on his face.

The Origianl didn't seem impressed. "120 pounds", he argued calmly and still grinning.

Tyler was on edge. "150."

"160."

"Gentlemen, really!", the jugde interferred, clearly unable to cope. "You can't … I beg you-"

"I'm bidding 500 pounds for a dance with Miss Caroline Forbes."  
Stunned Silence.

My mouth became dry. That was impossible … it couldn't be _him_ … why would _he_ of all people bid for me?!

A buzzing elevated in the hall as everybody began to whisper secretly behind their hands.

500 pounds. Not many queens managed to be come under the hammer within a three-digit range – but 500 pounds, that was insane. The judge, obviously deligthed that this unpleasant situation came to an end used the bafflement for his own purposes and clapped his hands. "And this year's queen of the debutantes is won by the gentleman in black over there for 500 pounds."  
The rest joinged in his applause hesitantly while Klaus Mikaelson made his way through the crowd in my direction, his gaze locked into mine.

I stared at him speechlessly. What could he possibly want from me that was worth his money?

Elena's warning slipped into my mind and I shivered: had he only bought this dance to torture me? To feed my fears and remind me how powerful he was?  
Oh, the irony: Just moments ago I had desired nothing more than to beat last year's queen and now I'd rather be sold away to any of those nice and harmless men for 5 pounds.

_Be carful what you wish for because you just might get it.  
_Torn between worry, self-consciousness, fury and curiosity I looked down at Klaus who stood in front of the podium and offered his hand to me.  
"May I have this next dance, love?"

Aware that everybody was staring at us and I wasn't in the position to cause a scene, I courtsied and flashed him by best and brightest fake smile. "I'd be delighted, Mr. Mikaelson."

"Please", he whispered into my ear when he pulled me closer to him. "Call me Klaus."

* * *

The orchestra started playing a sweet and beautiful piece of music as he led me to the middle of the dancefloor. People drew back to give us some space. I spotted several shocked or angry faces in my surrounding – Klaus' brother and Tyler looked both utterly displeased when we drifted past them, Katherine created the impression that she would enjoy nothing more right now than me getting suddenly hit by the chandelier, whereas Elena, Bonnie and my parents seemed to be alarmed and concerned.

_It's okay, I'm fine,_ I reassured Elena with a light smile.

She shook her head. _No, you are not and you know it._

"I can tell from the expression of your face that you are not particularly pleased that it was me who won you."

Klaus voice dragged me back from my thoughts.  
I flashed my eyes at him. "I'm glad you noticed."

My confession didn't seem to offend him much. "Believe it or not, love, but you are better off with me than with this mess that is called my brother or this boy who isn't able to perform a dance without hurting anybody who is unlucky enough to stand close to him."  
His words hid a certain truth which annoyed me all the more. "Well, I'd rather dance a thousand times with one of them than only once with somebody who litterally had blood on his hands just moments ago."

"You can't get over that one, can you?" He sighed. "How about you forget for an instant about our first encounter and just enjoy this unique moment? You are chosen queen which I know means a lot to girls your age, you look ravishing and you finally got a dancing partner who knows how to lead."

To my own astonishment that wasn't even an overstatement: he was indeed a very good dancer.

His posture was erect and his hold on me not too tight or too weak. He was … perfect.

But I'd rather bitten my tongue than to admit that to him so instead I just raised my eyebrows. "Not arrogant at all, aren't we?"

He chuckled and swung me around. "I have every reason to be, love. I'm the most powerful creature on earth."

_The most powerful creature on earth with a serious god complex. _This thought made me giggle.

His face became suddenly soft. "Has anyone ever told you that you are even more beautiful when you laugh?"

I paused and couldn't help blushing. Those words should have sounded cheesy but the way he looked at me while saying it made it anything but.

"Why are you so nice to me?" I eyed him suspiciously.

"Do I really need an ulterior motive to pay a woman a compliment?"

"Yes." I nodded heavily. "I know all about you vampires! You do not feel and you do not care. And if you are one of the oldest of your species, you must be even worse than the ones I already had the displeasure to come across. You can tell me how beautiful I am all you want but it won't change the fact that I know what you are."

His grip on my waist stiffened. "And what would that be, Miss Forbes?"

It took me all my courage to look him straight into the face. "Bloodthirsty. Cruel. And Insensitive. You are a monster."

He narrowed his eyes. Without wanting to I noticed their color: blue with some bright green and gold parts in it. They were gorgeous. And they didn't look cruel at all. Rather … lost.

"Be careful, love." He pulled me closer to him. Through his vest could feel his muscular torso pressed against me but no heart beat. "If I'm the monster you think I am, it's not very wise to insult me then now, is it?"

"Apparently you are used to people knuckling under to you and I'm more than happy to be the exception", I replied sweetly. "Maybe that's why you wanted to dance with me in the first place?"

He brought his face unbelievable close to mine. "One day I will tell you why I've chosen to do that. But you're not ready to hear my reasons yet."

Before I had a chance to ask him what he meant by that cryptic remark, the violins ended the dance with a last high and bittersweet note.

Klaus stepped away from me and bowed politely. "It was a pleasure dancing with you, Miss Forbes. We shall repeat that at the next ball."

With that, he left me.

For no reason the spaces where his hands had touched me before felt cold all of a sudden.

* * *

**I know, I'm only taking mini steps with Klaus & Caroline so far ;) But somehow that's what feels right for my story, so I hope you don't mind too much. Their bond will grow in the next chapters!**


	5. Chapter V

**To compensate for the fact that it took me 2 months to upload last time, I only needed 2 days now ;) Lucky for you, I didn't pay attention to my lecture in uni yesterday at all and wrote the beginning of this chapter instead, haha**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, it means so much to me and is seriosuly my whole inspiration - the more reviews, the faster I write :)**

**Hope you're gonna enjoy this chapter. There is no real Klaroline scene in it ... and yet there is *muahaha* But see for yourself, I will stop being all cryptic now ;)**

* * *

_"No one knows what its like_  
_ To be the bad man, to be the sad man_  
_ Behind blue eyes."_

_~ 'Behind Blue Eyes' by Limp Bizkit ~_

* * *

The rest of the evening slipped by quickly.

I danced with so many different other men that I couldn't remember any particular face afterwards. The conversations were perfunctory and felt forced and even though I preserved my well-trained, perfected smile the whole time, I wasn't enjoying the ball as much anymore as I though I would have.

Klaus didn't make another attempt to approach me; I spotted him once or twice across the room, dancing with Rebekah or chatting up his siblings and her fiancée, but I stopped my looking out for him the very minute his youngest brother caught me staring and sneered at me.

Shortly after midnight, my parents decided to head home and rather than sticking to the original plan and leave with the Gilberts, I kissed Elena and Bonnie goodbye and went off with them.

Just like expected, I came under fire as soon as the attendant of the Lockwoods' closed the carriage door behind us.

„Why did Klaus Mikaelson request you to dance with him, Caroline?"

„Have you ever spoken to him before?"

„Mr. Mikaelson is supremely dangerous, you are to avoid any further contact with him, do you understand me?"

„I have never heard of anyone spending more than 300 pounds by an auction like this ever before… He must be incredibly rich."  
„I wonder why the Mikaelsons are really in town – visiting Stefan Salvatore can't be their only motive, that's probably only a pretence."

„We should summon a council meeting soon to discuss this precarious situation, Elizabeth. This is serious business."

Fortunately they got too enmested in their discussion about their next steps to remember that they had actually wanted answers from me.

Thankful for their current state of distraction I leaned my head against the backrest and indulged myself in a moment of peace. I didn't feel like telling them about my first accidental meeting with Klaus or the reasons of Victoria's blood loss, at least not just yet.

I just wanted to sleep a bit. Sleep and forget…

* * *

Waking up the next morning, I felt more alert and well-rested than ever.

Self-forgotten I hummed some chords of last night's dances to myself while getting dressed.  
Downstairs I found a note wirtten by my mother saying that Pa and her had gone to meet some of the council members and wouldn't be back til early evening.

I rolled my eyes at that and spontaneously chose to pay the Gilberts a visit – I wasn't in the mood to be alone today and yesterday's events cried for some good, extensive girl talk.

Since it was one of those rare warm, sunny october days outside, I put on a pair of riding boots and entreated our head groom to saddle Rose, my favorite mare, instead of letting him drive up the carriage again for me.

Rose was obviously pleased to see me since she hadn't had much egression lately, so it was a win-win-situation.

It didn't take me long to ride to the Gilberts' estate. When I arrived, their servants took delivery or Rose and signed me to got directly into the garden to look for Miss Elena.

I shook out my hair which had gotten mixed up during the ride and followed their advice.  
As I turned the corner, exuberantly laughing greeted me. Staggered I caught side of Katherine running away from a tall, dark-haired and extremely good-looking gentleman who seemed to enjoy chasing her a lot.

„Come and get me, Mr. Salvatore!", she shouted with glee and very unlike her usual self.

„You're way too fast for me, Miss Katharine", he called back but didn't seem to make every effort to actually get her quite yet.

„Pathetic, isn't it?"

I reverted and saw Elena appearing behind me with crossed arms.

„That is Mr. Damon Salvatore", she cleared me up and winked me to follow her to the pavillon in the back of the garden. „Stefan's older brother and apparently Katherine's new suitor. Wasted energy, if you ask me – that minx will never worship anybody but herself."

„And good morning to you, too", I joked.

She sighed guiltily. „Sorry, Care. I'm not in the best mood today. But it's so great that you're here", she added beaming. „Bonnie has come by too."

„She has?", I asked delighted. „Oh, we've got so much talk about!"

„I know", Elena grinned.

Behined the pavillon, Bonnie sat on a chair next to a large table decorated with flowers, drinks and various sweets. When she saw us, she stopped playing around with the wax of one of the candles, jumped up and hugged me euphorically. „Caroline! So good to see you, sweetie."

We sat down together and Elena poured us all a cup of tea with some milk and in my case sugar, too.

„Ahh, how I love those lazy afternoons after an exhausting day", Bonnie remarked and took a sip. „I don't miss Ms Alcott's instructions at all."

„Me neither", Elena shuddered. „I would exchange her against a flirting Katherine any day though."

„It must be hell to live with her under one roof", I said sympathetically.

„It is, believe me. But don't even let me get started on that topic, let's rather talk about the ball!" Excitedly she clapped her hands. „I was so happy when you were chosen, Care."

„Not that they had much choice", Bonnie smiled. „You out-danced us all. Even though Tyler …" She paused, obviously upset about what had almost slipped out of her mouth.

I shook my head. „It's fine, you can say it: he was abysmal."

„Not abysmal", she giggled. „Only …." Her voice trailed off.

„Abysmal", I repeated and this time we all burst out into laughter.

„Such a pity, he is so nice", Elena said regretfully „But whatever, if he proposes to you, you'll still have enough time to teach him how to do it properly."

I stopped laughing at once. „Why on earth should he propose to me?"

„Oh come one, don't be silly! He is obviously falling or you, so proposing is just the next logic step."

I kept silent. I hadn't thought about this yet and I wasn't sure what to make of it. A proposal!

Was I ready for that? As exciting as the image of someone falling down on his knees in front of me and asking that one little question was, knowing that I had to _marry_ that person sooner or later afterwards was more than terrifying.

„Talking about falling for someone", Elena went on and pointed with her cup at Bonnie, „What was going on between you and our wonderful Mr. Donovan last night?"

Bonnie reddened adorably. „Um, nothing."

„Spill!", I commanded. „That doesn't sound like nothing at all."

„Well, afer the dance we've talked a lot." Her face took on a dreamy, happy expression. „I can't even remember what about anymore but he made me laugh. A lot. And I think … I think Matt will ask my parents if it is okay if he visits me from time to time in the future."

„Oh, they _have_ to say yes!", Elena exlaimed. „If Katherine can get visits from men every two hours then it's only fair."

„Do I hear someone calling me?"

We all three gave a start and turned our heads.

Katherine leaned against the wall of the pavillon with her head tilted while Damon stood next to her and patterned our little tea party amused.

„Get lost, Katherine." Elena rolled her eyes. „And take your lapdog with you, please."

Bonnie and me exchanged a quick, questioning glance – Elena was usually never that rude to strangers and since I knew that she had fallen for his brother, I wondered what this specific Salvatore had done to earn her disapproval.

Damon grinned broadly. „If you wanna insult me, Miss Gilbert, you gotta try a bit harder than that. I've been called a lot worse already."

„Oh, I can imagine that", she snapped.

„Cut it out, you two lovebirds." Katherine seemed irritated but then she considered me and looked even more annoyed. „And how is our lovely queen today? Not in companion of a certain Original, I see. So I take it he lost his interest in you after all?"

I stiffened. „That is none of your concern."

„Have I stroken a nerve?" She smiled brightly. „I'm so deeply sorry. But that's just how Klaus has his way with the ladies. I'm afraid, even a queen is no exemption there."

I wrinkled my forehead. Katherine had used his prename quite self-evidently as if she was friends with him or knew him better than the rest of us. What was that about?

But before I could ask her, Damon took her elbow and lead her away from us. „Come, Miss Katherine, we're clearly undesired here. The ladies need some privacy … to discuss their favorite color for a dress or whatever it is they're talking about."

Elena made a face at him before they vanished and then found us eyeballing her. „What?"

„You like him", Bonnie stated simply.

That predicate even surprised me - of course Elena did _not_ like Damon. But Bonnie couldn't know of her crush on Stefan so maybe it was only natural for her to assume this.

„Ha!", Elena snorted. „I most certainly hate him. He is arrogant, selfish and unbearable, the very opposite of his brother. I can't believe that they are related ... but who am I to judge? Katherine's blood runs through my veins, too."

We laughed and then moved on to analize everything else that had happened at the ball – to my relief we left out all the touchy subjects though … just as a certain Original who apparently had lost his interest in me.

* * *

The sky was already beginning to darken and the sun was setting in a spectaculour play of violet and red colors when I finally left the Gilberts' home and returned to mine.

I was half on my way through the forest when Rose started to limp abruptly. I dismounted from her and controlled her hooves: a stone had got stuck in one of them.  
Sighing I took her reins in my hand and led her along the path. She nickered protestingly. „My poor Baby." I tapped her neck. „Hang in there!"  
The howl of a wolf suddenly broke through the air. It sounded close and Rose immediately started panicking; in just a second I had lost the reins and she was gone.

„Great. That is just great."

Angrily I kicked a ripped out root out of my way. I could only hope she would make her way back safely. And I would too…

It was getting cold and I wasn't dressed warmly enough for this weather.

A sudden thud infront of me made me cringe. A scraping and a supressed whimper, then the shrubs started rustling. Hesitantly I got my knife out and it moved into the direction of the noise. Whatever was behind the bush, it didn't sound human.

Cautiously I moved the branches aside – and froze. On the grass laid a wolf, but not just any ordinary wolf; It was the hugest and yet most stunning specimen I had ever seen of its kind.  
His pelt was black and white, solid and shiny, the tail velvet, long and a bit darker than the rest of the skin. At the precise moment I looked down on the wolf, he looked up and surveyed me with a distrusting physiognomy.

But even if he had wanted to, he was in no position to attack me. With slight horror I noticed the masses of blood on his side and around him on the green ground. Who would harm such a beautiful and majestic animal?  
I crouched down to get a better view on his injuries. He hoisted his flews and snarled threatingly.

"It's okay", I reassured him, not even sure why I was talking out loud. "I'm not going to hurt you. You can trust me."

In the dim light it was hard to perceive his wound but after my eyes got used to the darkness a bit, I could see a peculiar wodden stake sticking out of his hip. Apparently someone had shot him with that but I couldn't think of any reason why – didn't our hunters use plumb for that?

I took a deep breath, horrified about what I was going to do next and yet still determined. "Here's the deal, wolf. I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna free you from this stake and in return it would be incredibly nice if you wouldn't bite me. I don't wanna lose my hands or any of my arms, I must admit, I'm rather attached to them."  
It was ridiculous obviously; the wolf surely didn't understand me … and yet it seemed like he started to relax a little bit. He closed his jaws and peacefully placed his head on his snow white front paws. He almost looked like he was enjoying this situation. As if the pain had somehow faded..

I shook my head at myself. That was impossible. It was just a wolf, for god's sake.

My hands were trambling as I reached out with them. While I kept his head in sight – I really didn't want to make any conctact with his teeth –I grabbed the stake.

"This part will hurt now", I informed the wolf. "Please don't take it out on me."

I yanked the stake so hard that I staggered backwards and fell down into the leaves.

With one single movement the wolf was on his legs again.

I pulled myself together again and remained on my knees, entranced by his eyes. They were huge, radiant and blue. I felt like I could see directly into his soul through them. His face was now only inches away from mine. Even though he was weak, he was still strong and fast enough to snap at me if he wanted to. But he didn't.

With bated breath I stretched out my hand again. My fingers found the coat of his neck and became engrossed in it. He was much softer and cuddlier than I would have expected.

Silently he stood before me and let me touch him.

"You are beautiful", I whispered.

A grumbling broke away from his throat just like the curring of a cat.

"Caroline!"

I jumped at the sudden disruption. The voice calling out for me belonged to my father.

The wolf shot me one last regretting glance and vanished into the dark trees again.

Only his blood on the grass was a proof now that he had ever been there at all.

* * *

**Saw another KC FF writer doing that and thought it was a good idea: if you want me to keep writing but have absolutely no idea what to say in a review, just post this -**

**"Dear Junia,**

**Your new chapter looks good, can't wait to see what's happening next.**

**Hurry the hell up with writing!**

**Much love,**

** your name"**

**:D :D  
**


	6. Chapter VI

**Hey there guys!**

**+ First of all: Happy 3rd advent :) Thanks so much for all the kind reviews for the last chapter, that really motivated me to keep on writing!**

**++ For those who asked: YES, the wolf in the woods was Klaus, I can confirm that :D**

**+++ Lately I've seen that some writers are using song lyrics as an introduction to their chapters and I found that so beautiful that I decided to do that too! I've added some to all the previous chapters, so if you want, you can check them out and see for yourselves if you find them fitting. Here's your first 'official' one. **

**xx**

* * *

_ "Like ships in the night_  
_ You keep passing me by."_

_ ~ 'Ships In The Night' by Mat Kearney ~_

* * *

„We've been so worried about you, Caroline."

This was the seventh time that I heard this sentence today since my father had found me in the woods and brought me home – my parents just couldn't get a grip on themselves.

„When Rose arrived here without you …" My mother stroked my head. „We assumed the worst."

She was sitting in front of me on my bed where she had directly chartered me into and sustained me with some warm milk with honey to soothe my nerves.

„I already told you", I explained patiently. „I was perfectly fine. Rose ran away from me but I didn't fall off or got attacked by any robbers."

She shot me a meaningful look. „You know very well, young lady, that it's not the robbers we were worried about."

I got her message. „You mean the Originals? Oh, they wouldn't dare…"

„There has been an attack today", she interrupted me quietly.

My lungs corded up. „Who?", I whispered. „Who is it?"

My mother looked away quickly but I saw a tear dropping down her cheek anyway. „Lillian, the daughter of Isaac and Amelia Densham. She is … she is dead."

_Lillian Densham._ A girl from my education glass. I hadn't known her very well but she had always been so friendly, so fun-loving … whenever I'd seen her, she had worn a smile on her face. And now she was gone forever before she even had the chance to really start living.

Rage over this injustice seized me. My hands balled into fists. „And you are sure it's been one of the Mikaelsons?"

She shrugged her shoulders. „We don't know anything at this point but who else would it be? They just came to town, it would be quite a funny coincidence if they were actually innocent."

_What kind of person would I be if I killed someone on the day of their coming-out party? _

But apparently one day after the big event it was acceptable again… I filled with bitterness.

„What is the council going to do about it?", I asked calmly.

My mum smiled. „We are having someone on the inside to figure that out for us."

„And who might that be?"

„You have met Stefan Salvatore last night, haven't you?"

Suddenly I set upright. „He is working for the council?"

She nodded. „He is engaged to the female Original, Rebekah Mikaelson. He doesn't love her though and he is willing to do everything in his power to stop the siblings from ruining more lives than they already have." She hesitated shortly. „you got to know this: Stefan is a vampire."

I choked on my milk. „He is … WHAT?"

„Klaus turned him so Rebekah could have someone to spent eternity with", my mother said grimly.

I took a deep breath and put the cup with the milk on my bed stand. „Then why are you collaborating with him? He is a vampire. He is evil. He must be killed. That's basically what Pa and you have told me all my life!"

She sighed. „That's right, Caroline, but there are rules. You know very well that we are only allowed to kill vampires who have murdered on our territory and that hasn't been the case with Stefan so far –he was with us when Lillian got assaulted, so he has a waterproof alibi." I was about to say something but she held one hand up to stop me. „I'm not saying he is pure! He himself has confessed to us that he has killed people before already. But right now he is the best shot we got at taking down the Mikaelson family. We gotta take advantage of that. And he has promised to leave Mystic Falls as soon as we have achieved that. So I don't see why we shouldn't except in his case."

I let her words run through my head but they didn't make much sense to me. If vampires had generally no soul, how could one be better or worse than the other? How could you want to kill some but save others? That felt wrong.

And … if it was true after all, _if_ they had no sould … how was it possible that Elena had fallen in love with one? Was Stefan that good at disguising? I shivered.

It was definitely too much news for one evening and a mind that was as tired as mine right now.

„I think I need to sleep on that, Mum."

„Of course you do." She stood up and kissed me on my forehead. „Keep that information to yourself though, will you? Good night, honey."

I was already half-asleep, when my father stormed into the bed chamber again.

„How many times do I have to tell you, Caroline, to not leave this lying around. It is special and your protection. You need it with you literally_ wherever_ you go, even in your bed chamber! It has absolutely no business on the doorsteps!"

He left the room before I could reply and slammed the door angrily.

Speechless I stared on my knife which he had put on my blanket. I had totally forgotten about it.

But I hadn't left it on the doorsteps at all – the last time I had seen it … _was in the forest with the wolf._

* * *

On the following day our home turned into a complete circus.

Council members were coming and going as they pleased, always speaking under their breath to each other behind closed walls. Usually I wasn't very curious of their interlocutions but today was different. I felt a peculiarly strong interest in finding out as much as possible about their plans which was why I tried my best to catch some of their talk while pretending to search for non-existent lost earrings infront of the door of my father's bureau.

I had been there on the ground for about five minutes and still heard absolutely nothing when a coughing behind me interrupted my poor attempts.

I moved around and found myself looking at the shoes of Stefan Salvatore who looked down on me with an amused expression.

„I'm here for a secret conference of the Council – does it happen to be going on behind this door?"

I rose and nodded. „I'm searching for an earring. I must have lost it here somewhere."

He didn't appear very convinced but didn't question me either. „Apart from that tragic loss, how are you, Miss Forbes?"  
Warily I looked at him – to my surprise he honeslty seemed to want to know. I sighed and decided to drop the polite, stiff address. „Listen, Stefan, I have actually liked you. You are nice. But … I know what you are now. And I don't wanna do any small talk with you. I'm really sorry."

His face grew sad. „That is a pity, Caroline. Because I actually like you too. Any friend of Elena's is immediately my friend."

„About Elena …" I faced him rigorously. „I think it is better if you leave her alone."  
„Excuse me?"

„You are a vampire. You are not right for her."

He considered that. „I am probably not. But if we always do nothing but the right thing, Caroline … what kind of boring and predictable lives would we lead?"

With that he abandoned me, opened the door and vanished into the bureau.

„Walking out on someone is always an effective way to get the final word", I grumbled though I couldn't help but feel a bit impressed by his sentence.

At that moment the bell rang.

Irritated I went to open the frontdoor. How many more guests could this council party probably have? My father's study room wasn't big enough to give them all space to even just stand!

Against my expectation it wasn't any friend of my parents though who stood on our doorstep but a footman with a correspondence to hand over.

„Are you Miss Caroline Forbes?", he asked me quickly. „I'm only allowed to give this to her, not to anybody else."

Puzzled I answered in the affirmative, accepted the letter and went into the living room to unclose it. The envelope was fery fine material and it had nothing but my name on it, written with black ink in a very elegant, unfamiliar hand. Inside of it was a card. Inquisitively I took it out and started reading it.

"My dearest Miss Forbes,

Ever since we seperated on the dancefloor, I cannot seem to get our last conversation out of my head. We did not dismiss each other on good terms and I feel like it is my duty now to make up for that.

Would you do me the honour of joining me and my family at dinner tonight?

A carriage will be awaiting you.

Sincerely,

Niklaus Mikaelson"

* * *

„You are NOT going, Caroline."

„William, listen to me …"

„No! Over my dead body!"  
„She needs to go. Why are you so incredibly stubborn? Can't you see the opportunity there?"

I hadn't seen my parents fighting like that in a long time and it made me mad at myself for even telling them about the invitation and not burning the letter immediately in the first place.

I should have seen this one coming.

„I'm not going to utilise my own daughter as a spy, Elizabeth", my father spit and bustled from one side of the room to the other. „Caroline is not a weapon we are going to use against the Mikaelsons the same way as we use Stefan Salvatore."  
„But she _can't_ refuse." It was the first time during this whole argument my mother raised her voice and it startled me. Even my father stopped walking.

„She can't refuse", she repeated, more emphatic this time. „And therefore she won't."

„But …"

„No ifs, ands or buts! Have you ever thought how this man might react when she actually rejects him? Because this is what it would look like to him: a rejection. We can't afford that. We can't afford to infuriate him. You may not like it but he is able to kill our whole househould without much of an effort and he will do it, if we offend him."

„We put Caroline at risk. She is not safe there."

„She hasn't been safe anymore the minute she met him. That is unfortunate but we have to deal with it. And besides …" My mother looked at me and for the first time in my life I thought I saw some kind of accusation in her eyes. „Somehow she managed to get him to like her. I don't think he is going to hurt her."

My father buried his head in his hands. „I don't like this. I don't like it at all."  
I knew that this was his unspoken declaration of consent. My shoulders sank down.

My mother opened my cupboard. „Call for Lucy, Caroline. We need you to change into different clothes now as soon as possible. You need to look stunning tonight."

* * *

Lucy did a wonder again with me: within very brief time she managed to not only find the perfect dress for me – this one in navy blue and white colors with half-length sleeves and a foursquare neckline - but also plied my hair with different combs and brushes until it was completely smooth and gleaming. With tiny hair clips she pinned up some wisps but let most parts of my hair undone so that it fell freely over my back and looked natural yet quite beautiful.

As Klaus had promised a carriage drove up to our estate as soon as it got dark and awaited me with open doors dircetly in front of our staircase. The carter, a man who was doubtlessly a vampire as well, greeted me with a quick nod and then helped me in under the watchful eyes of my parents.

None of them waved me goodbye as the coach departed.

Crestfallen I looked down at my hands. My mother seemed to believe that all of this was my fault. Was it? Was she right? I wasn't aware that I had done anything to encourage Klaus. We had only danced and talked. I had even accused him of being a monster. How could that be considered flirting?

The ride ended sooner than I had thought. Full of curiosity I looked out of the window – and my breathing suddenly faltered.

I had already considered the Lightwoods' property to be impressive but it was absolutely nothing compared to the premises of the Mikaelsons. Though their home wasn't as huge as Tyler's, it looked as if it had arisen right from a fairytale book with its ornaments and the lofty towers to both of its sides.

Someone opened the coach for me. I was just about to dismount when I noticed the outstretched hand in front of me. I looked up and my eyes locked with _his_.

An odd feeling caught hold of me: until this moment I had been convinced I was sacrificing myself for the greater good with accepting his invitation. But when I saw him standing there, helping me getting out and touching my arm just a tiny bit longer than necessary I noticed that I hadn't been entirely honest with myself.

A part of me rejoiced to see him again. Possibly even _because_ he was evil and dangerous and forbidden and all of those things. He was everything I couldn't have and that made talking to him just so much more desirable.

„Good evening, love", Klaus welcomed me with a smug smile. „I am glad you decided to give me a second chance."

* * *

**+ I actually planned to give you more Klaroline at the end of this chapter but I got sick today and I really tried writing more but didn't like what I came up with so I decided to give you this piece first and the next chapter - with MUCH Klaroline and Caroline + the Originals interaction ! - will be your christmas present then I guess :')**

**++ To the person who asked for Steroline: I gave you a little scene here, I hope you liked it :) Their friendship will grow during the process of this story!**

**+++ Since it worked so well last time, I think I'm gonna keep doing this: if you want me to continue this story but don't know what to say in a review, just post this:**

**"Dear Junia,**

**Your new chapter looks good, can't wait to see what's happening next.**

**Hurry the hell up with writing!**

**Much love,**

** your name"**


	7. Chapter VII

**Hey you guys :)**_  
_

**Merry Christmas to you all! I wish you all a lot of excellent food and presents, have a good time with your family or wherever you are 3  
As promised here's my littel christmas gift for you: the LONGEST chapter of Good Intentions so far, I hope you like it - I'm really anxious what you think about this one!  
**

**xx  
**

* * *

_"I thought I could resist you_  
_ I thought that I was strong_  
_ Somehow you were different from what I've known"_

_~ 'Speechless' by The Veronicas ~_

* * *

When I had been about five years old, I had told everyone of my relatives that I wanted to become a princess one day when I was older. They all had smiled leniently and patted my head but no one had been able to comprehend how strong my wish for acknowledgement and appreciation really was.

And even though Klaus didn't know me half as well as they did, he seemed to sense exactly how I yearned to be treated, even if it was only for one evening.

When we entered the old-fashioned lobby of the Mikaelson's mansion, he hold the door open for me, before he took away the blue scarf I had wrapped around my shoulders to protect myself against the wintriness outside and handed it over to a butler who appeared out of thin air. Subsequently he reached for a tablet with two glass of sparkling, icecold champagne on it and gave one of them to me.

For the first time in my life I felt like a true princess.

Marvelling I looked around myself and took in the mere beauty of the room: the high dark walls and the wooden furniture stood in extreme contrast with the light of the candelabra and the candles on the little tables which where placed here and there.

„Your home is … nice", I admitted hesitantly. „Whom did it belong to before you moved in here?"

„No one. This place has always been ours. I made the plans for the building myself, about 45 years ago together with a very skilled architect whom I saved from Rebekah's blood lust in return." He chuckled to himself, as if he was enjoying the memory, then raised his glass. „To second chances!"

I raised an eyebrow and chinked glasses with him. „To second chances _and_ their observance."

„You had to get the final word, didn't you?"

I just smiled and took a sip from the champagne. It tasted exquisitve but I hadn't expect anything less. Our eyes met over the rim of our glasses and I felt a slight déjà vu all of a sudden – but before I had the time to find out what it was, another server approached us.

„Dinner is ready, Mylord."

* * *

When I followed Klaus upstairs to the dining room, I noticed two things at once: firstly how perfectly his muscles were looming under his suit and second that the walls on both sides of the corridor were spread with remarkable oil paintings of landscapes, buildings and sometimes, very rarely, even people.

„Have you robbed the whole atelier of an artist?", I gaped.

„Always assuming the worst of me, aren't you?" He shook his head. „I made them myself, Caroline."

That comment left me so speechless that I didn't even find the words to rebuke him for calling me by my given name. _He_ had painted those?

„But … they are incredible", I said confused.

He laughed and looked back at me. „Now why does that sound more like an accusation than a compliment, love?"

_Because you are supposed to be my enemy, not to draw beautiful things and treat me like a lady. _

This game my parents had instructed me to play began to become more dangerous than I'd assumed.

The dining room was behind a portal in the middle of the corridor. Two attendants bowed to us courteously and stepped aside to let us in.

What surprised me even more than seeing the decent looking room in the style of a french saloon behind the doors was the number of people sitting around the large table in the center of it.

I had expected to be dining with Klaus and his siblings only but as I quickly counted the taken seats, I noted that actually every single Original had brought a date to this peculiar tea. Next to Rebekah sat Stefan, holding innocently hands with her; Klaus' youngest brother who had been bidding on me was with a pretty girl I had once or twice spotted in town but didn't know by name and the older one with the oh-so-serious look on his face had none other than Katherine on his side.

Everyone looked up at once when Klaus and me entered the room and again, I felt a bit of a déjà vu, but this time I could easily determine what it was – wherever I went with Klaus, it seemed to be a physical law that people were instantly staring at us.

„You are late, Niklaus", commented the elder brother. „We're all starving."

Klaus didn't respond right away but took my hand in his and lead me to the two last single unoccupied places at the head of the table, next to his brother, Katherine and Rebekah.

Both girls didn't seem to be exceedingly happy to see me.

„I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Elijah", Klaus finally said, not sounding sorry at all. „But I'm sure you understand why I felt the need to wait for this lovely lady to arrive before I joined you."

I took me a moment to realize that he actually referred to me with the ‚lovely lady' part and I couldn't help but blush in confusion. He was doing it again. He was being nice to me and – again – I had no real idea why. Hopefully tonight's events would shed a bit of light on his motives.

Klaus pulled my chair back for me and I thankfully slumped into the dark red velvet cushion of it.

„I think I haven't properly introduced you to everyone yet, Caroline." He took the seat to my right and looked amused at everybody around as if the sudden tension didn't bother but entertain him. „Caroline, this is my brother Elijah, the only polite one in the family I'm afraid. I think you still remember Kol from the ball, we had quite a fight over you." Even though Kol chuckled at this, I picked out the subliminal strained undertone in Klaus' words. „And here we have my baby sister Rebekah who has promised to behave herself tonight for a change." Once more I heard his threat and I was sure that Rebekah had too.

The way she pouted made it very clear that she wasn't here voluntarily.

Luckily this awkward moment got disrupted when three butlers entered the room and served the starter – a mushroom cream soup with crouton.  
„The food is _always_ so delicious when I'm with you guys." Katherine managed to shoot all Elijah, Kol and Klaus a flirting look at once. „I would really love to dine with you _every_ evening."

Somehow that annoyed me and it made me even angrier how she stressed the ‚always' and ‚every'.

I was however not the only one feeling this way. „I like you better when you don't talk, Miss Pierce, do you think that would be possible?", Rebekah snarled.

„Jealous because you're getting some girl company?" Katherine laughed.

Rebekah gritted her teeth.

„Be nice, remember we have guests", Klaus warned her before she could fire anything back.

I tried to change the subject and pointed at Elijah who dipped his spoon into the soup. „So, apparently vampires are able to eat. How interesting."

Everyone at the table snorted at my comment.

„The next thing you're going to ask us is if we're sleeping in coffins, don't you?", Kol remarked teasingly.

„Well …" I raised my eyebrow. „Do you?"

It was Rebekah however who was answering me. „Sure - whenever Nik decides that he's fed up with us and it would be nice for a change again to dagger us all."

I couldn't really follow her words and was about to go into it when I saw the way Klaus' grip around his silverware strengthened so much that his knuckles protruded whitely. His eyes twinkled in a grim way and I sensed the dangerous topic.

At the ball they had all appeared to be one big, happy family but now I began to realize that there might be more hidden below the surface of this image.

He caught me gazing at him and returned my look steadily. I smiled at him tentatively and though he didn't smile back, I saw how his hand began to relax again slowly and the tense expression of his face vanished as if it had never been there in the first place.

„You are one to tame the lion, aren't you?"

Baffled I turned to face Elijah who had spoken to me … and then felt my cheeks warm up when the message of his words sank in.

„Shut up, brother", Klaus said quietly.

Katherine, looking from one of us to the other, decided that it was about time people stopped concentrating on me and turned to Stefan on the other side of the table: „So, tell me, Mr. Salvatore, how long do you still wanna delay your wedding day? Haven't you been engaged since forever?"

She spoke as if she wasn't even aware that the bride was also at this dinner and Rebekah's face darkened immediately in response to that impoliteness. Mysteriously I saw how Kol stiffened too.

„Only since two months, Miss Pierce", Stefan replied between two spoons of soup. „And the date for the church ceremony hasn't been set yet."

„And what's the hurry anyway?" Kol tried to sound casual but something in his voice gave him away. I wondered if he had seen through Stefan's acting skills and knew that his intentions weren't completely pure.

„I wish you were ever gonna ask me to marry you, too", Kol's date moaned. „White is absolutely my color and we'd be a perfect match."

He leered at her and kissed her fully on the mouth. „I bet we would. I'm going to think about it, my dear."

Rebekah's chair creaked over the floor when she forcefully pushed it back all of a sudden and stood up. „Excuse me, I'm not feeling very hungry anymore."  
Everybody watched her leave in astonishment. I quickly faced the others and saw a similar anger in both Kol and Klaus' faces that puzzled me: they stared at each other as if they were blaming each the other one for Rebekah's abrupt escape. Something was clearly going on here that I had not the faintest idea about.

And I was going to change that soon.

* * *

After the dinner was over, Kol's date – whose name I still hadn't figured out – suggested to dance and to my utter surprise it was Klaus of all people who raised and walked to the piano standing in the posterior corner of the room. His fingers hovered for one moment over the piano keys, then he started to play.

I regognized the song instantly. It was the same one we had shared a dance to at the ball. Without the violins it sounded a bit purer and its beauty made me shiver again.

Elijah nosed into my field of view. „Would you care for a dance, Miss Forbes?"

Taken aback I nodded and followed him to the parquet where Kol and his girl were already dancing very closely. Elijah was a way better dancer than Tyler though he didn't even concentrate much on the dance steps. Instead he bored his dark, severe eyes into mine.

„I am glad we can finally talk just the two of us. I must say that I'm quite curious about you."  
„You are?" I laughed. „About me? Why?"

„Because you're the first woman my brother ever invited to have dinner with us. Isn't that reason enough to be curious?"

I stopped laughing at once and glanced stunned over at Klaus who was still sitting at the piano with a little smile on his face. I was absolutely positive that he could hear every single word of our conversation. It made me nervous to know that he would also catch my response, so I decided to go for a safe round of scepticism. „You honestly want me to believe that this god-knows-how-old vampire with a huge weakness for exaggerated compliments has never once brought a girl home?"

„Well, at least not to dine with us", Elijah commented drily.

I gritted my teeth and immediately felt stupid. Of course there had been other women. That was only natural. And I didn't even _want_ to be something special to him. So … why did the thought of him with someone else still upset me so much?

I looked at the piano again and congealed. Klaus wasn't paying attention to Elijah and me anymore because Katherine had just squashed herself onto the piano steel next to him and was listenting devoutly to his playing.

„Are you kidding me?", I hissed under my breath. „There's hardly enough space for one person."

Elijah appeared to be extremely amused by my comment. „Jealous much?"

I huffed impatiently. „Of course I'm not. How ridiculous. I only … I … isn't Katherine your date actually?" I was running out of explanations for my behaviour and decided to turn the tables. „Shouldn't _you_ be concerned about the fact that she has been flirting with both of your brothers and your sister's fianceé consistently tonight and would probably come on to the male attendants too if they weren't below her status?"

It was a rather personal question but he didn't seem to mind. „That's just the way she is. Katherine's in fact a very insecure person and she desperately needs other people to make her feel like she is the one for them. But maybe some day she'll find a person who is enough for her. Until then … let her have her fun. Her behaviour is very harmless, most of the times at least."

The way her hands were touching Klaus' arms right now didn't seem harmless to me.

Furiously I averted my gaze. „So you're telling me you aren't interested in her? You don't want to be her special someone?"

He shrugged. „I like Katherine and there might have been a time when I was attracted to her. But right now she's more like a sister to me. I just don't see her that way."

Hard words. I was wondering if Katherine was feeling the same vice versa.

„May I cut in now, Elijah?"

I heard _his_ voice from right behind me. I could even smell him – it was a delicious mix of musk, soap and the very own scent every man had to himself. A smile was spreading out on my face and I wasn't even able to hide it from him when I slowly turned around to face him.

„Not busy anymore?", I tried to sound as indifferent as I could.

He returned my smile and reached out his hand to me. „I think it's my brother's turn to practise scales with our Katherine now."

Elijah took the hint. „It was a great pleasure dancing with you, Miss Forbes." He bowed well-mannered and went off to join Katherine which left me alone with my Original on the dancefloor all of a sudden – Kol and the girl had vanished a long time ago, assumably into his bed chamber.

„Will you come with me, Caroline?" Klaus cocked his head. „I want to show you something."  
How was I able to deny him anything if he was using the full force of his blue eyes on me? He was definitely playing dirty. I sighed and put my hand in his. „I'm all yours for now. But it better be worth it."

* * *

Part of me anticipated that the place he wanted to show me was in fact nothing but his bed room – why on earth should a man like him make all this effort with the invitation, the coach and the dinner if there wasn't anything in it for him ?! – but Klaus broke in on me again by leading me to a library one floor higher. The oaken shelves on every side of the cabinet extended to the ceiling and where filled to the brim with books of every size and every color. Little circular stairs and ladders led up to racks above and I counted five different tables with several chambersticks on them.

The sight of this little labyrinth of books was mind-blowing.

„I envy you", I whispered. „If this was my house, I'd be in here every day."

„It is my favorite room, too. I come in here whenever I need to clear my head and distract myself from … things."

„Is it okay if I …?"  
He chuckled at my excitement. „Sure, go ahead."

Eagerly I stormed off to climb one of the ladders to a shelf that was marked with the huge, golden letter D. With my eyes I searched for the one author I had in mind and squealed happily when I finally found him. „You own Charles Dickens' ‚Great Expectations'!"

„Of course I do, love." He leaned nonchalantly against the shelf with his arms crossed behind his back and watched me beaming with joy. „It's one of the original copies. I once stole it from a famous bookseller."

„How nasty you are." Reverently I took the exemplar in my hands and flipped carefully through it. It smelled exactly as a book as old as this one was supposed to smell and I closed my eyes enraptured to properly inhale the enticing smack. „I can't say I blame you though, I probably would had done the same if I had your power. It's one of my favorite stories ever, I'd give my right arm to get a sample of it."  
„You can have it if you want to."

His words almost caused me to drop the book. Shocked I looked down at him. „You must be joking."

He shook his head. „I will just get myself another one. Besides: other men courting women are giving them presents too, aren't they? I just feel like flowers wouldn't be enough for you."

I rolled my eyes. „You are _not_ courting me."

„I'm sorry if I didn't express my feelings towards you well enough so far, Caroline." His look intensified and captivated me. „But I must admit that I had my motives to invite you tonight and none of them have anything to do with the fact that your parents are the leaders of this town's anti-vampire council."

His last comment made me giggle but then I recovered myself. „If that is true, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm not interested."

„Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow and looked way too arrogant and self-satisfied for my taste.

„Yes", I snapped. „It is. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression but I am not here voluntarily. You know as well as I do that I had no other choice but to obey you."  
My use of the word ‚obey' clearly alienated him. „You honestly think I would have come to get my revenge if you had rejected me?"

I placed the book back to its ancestral place and folded my arms. „Honestly? I have no idea. I don't know you. And forgive me if I don't really feel the urge to change that fact when everything I've heard about you so far is simply awful, Klaus."

His jaw strained. „So instead of creating your own opinion you are going to judge me because you are confiding in rumors?"

Angrily I stamped my foot. The ladder wiggled precariously but I was so infuriated that I didn't even care. How could he twist my words in such a way? „You have killed Lillian Densham!", I shouted at him. „Don't even try to deny it. You're a coldblooded murderer."

His pupils narrowed dangerously and in that moment he truly looked like the monster I had accused him of being. I had never seen him look so frightening before, not even on the balcony when he had drained Victoria. „If that's what you think", he gasped out, „then it may be wise for you to leave now. I don't want to force you to spend any more time with me than you already had to."

I swallowed hard. To my own horror I felt tears collecting in my eyes. I had wanted to enjoy this evening and somehow it all went wrong again. I hadn't even planned on losing my temper this time but here we were and he was actually dismissing me. And instead of being glad that I was finally free, I felt absolutely devastated. Stupid, stupid little me.

I was about to descend from the highest windler when my foot slided. I lost my grip and toppled over. Everything happened so fast that I didn't even have the time to shriek or get frightened. The ground rushed towards me in a matter of seconds but before I hit it, someone caught me.

My whole body was shaking when I unclosed my eyes and found myself in Klaus' strong arms who had saved me from the pain of breaking at least half of my bones.

Out of breath I stared into his sparkling eyes who were only inches away from mine now. My hands had automatically clinged to his back and I could feel his muscles working under them as he straightened himself, still carrying me in his arms as if I was as light as a feather. I opened my mouth to thank him but no words came out. He had made me completely speechless.

He qucikly licked his lips and before I could stop myself I looked down on them. They were so close, so damn close … oh, this was torture.

They looked soft, seductive, inviting. When I gazed at his lips, I forgot all about him being my enemy or the little circumstance that he was murdering innocent people. All I could think about was how it must feel like if he pressed them passionately on mine?

My brain turned itself off. Every part of me was josening now for his kiss. Without any effort on my part my hands went into business for themselves and moved to entangle behind his neck. I felt the silky cloth of his collar and then his cold, smooth skin and … no pulse.

Brutally I got dragged back into reality. Of course he had no pulse. He was a vampire.

I. Was. About. To. Kiss. A. Vampire.

„Please let me down", I begged with a small voice.

He blinked as if he had just been woken up from an intense dream. Then he put me back on my feet immediately.

„I need to go", I said horrified. „You are right. I need to go home. Please let me go home."

„Caroline …"

„_Please_, Klaus."

He sighed and teared his hair.

I took that as a yes and started running like hell. Out of the library, far away from him and everything that had almost happened in there. I stumbled while I went below the stairs and ironically lost one of my shoes. But before I could continue and leave all cinderella-like, someone abruptly obstructed my path.

I paused distracted. „Kol! Stop hovering, I need to go to my carriage."

He smiled. It wasn't a nice smile at all. All at once I noticed the glassy expression in his eyes and the smell of alcohol in his breath. He was drunk. And he looked evil.

„I don't think you are going anywhere tonight, darling." He grabbed a wisp of my hair and wrapped it around a finger to pull me closer to him.

I froze, wild with fear. „Please, don't …"

„_Please, don't …_", he aped me scornfully. „God, listen to yourself. You're so pathetic. I have no idea what my brother sees in you. But", he laughed out loud suddenly, „that's the funny thing about it: it doesn't matter _why_ he likes you. It matters _that_ he does."

His teeth lengthened and sharpened in front of me and for the second time this night I literally stared death in the face. I whimpered and wanted to beg for my life but it was already too late – he yanked my head sidewards and sank his bared fangs into my neck.

* * *

Pain hit me like a slap in the face when my skin got torn open.

I screamed in agony and tried to get rid of him but even with one hand busy to steady my head Kol was still able to hold down both my arms. I was vulnerable and defenseless, my knife was out of reach and my father's training had been all for nothing.

The tears I had been able to hold back in Klaus' presence were now silently running down my face as Kol continued to suck my blood. The more he drank, the less pain I was in. Suddenly all my feelings vanished and my view became blurry. I grew weaker and weaker …

I couldn't … do anything … needed to fight … fight him … but … can't … not strong enough …

From far, far away I heard how someone snarled beside himself with anger. Kol's teeth and his hands left me at once and I dropped to the step like a lifeless doll.

My eyes were closed. I tried to open them but failed. The aching came back. I puled faintly.

The noise of an ugly fight filtered down to me as if through cotton. A blend of huffing, hissing, shouting and punching. I couldn't say for how long it lasted but suddenly it was over and all quiet.

„Caroline."

I recognized that voice. I tried to answer him but speaking was too exhausting.

„No, don't move. Do you hear me? Everything's fine but don't move. I'm gonna give you some of my blood now and the only thing you need to do is absorbe it."

Liquid trickled into my mouth. It tasted saltly, metallic and weird.

Then I stared floating. Was this a dream? I felt him carrying me, swearing under his breath. He sounded so angry. Why was he so angry? Still because of me? That thought depressed me.

„I'm sorry …", I murmured feebly.

„It is okay, sweetheart. I'm here now. It's going to be okay."

I got layed down onto soft sheet. His hands rested my head on a pillow. It smelled just like him.

I snickered. „So I take it you finally got me into your bed yet again?"

His fingertips touched my cheek gently. „I guess I did. I just wished it would have been under different circumstances."

„Me too", I sighed, not even really aware what I was saying anymore. I was still weak and so unbelievably tired …

He stopped touching me but my hand clutched at his. „No. Please don't leave me."

Even though I couldn't see him with my eyes closed I still knew that he was looking at me in this precise moment. „If that's what you wish, then I'm staying."

His weight next to me let the mattress sink in.

Weariness overwhelmed me. Sleep was only seconds away. „I was wrong", was the last thing I muttered before completely passing out. „You are not a monster."

* * *

**okay so: WHAT DO YOU THINK? There's clearly something going on between Rebekah/Kol/Klaus and I'm gonna reveal it in the next chapter ;) But know that Kol DID have his motives for going after Caroline. **

**As always: please please please review? :) I need some kind of feedback on this one, very unsure if it's good or not. Did you like the Klaroline-interaction and the almost-kiss?  
**


	8. Chapter VIII

**Happy new year, guys! :D Have a great 2013, every single one of you 3**

**So, hope you're gonna like this chapter. You'll get to know Rebekah a bit more.**

* * *

_"He's the air I would kill to breathe"_

_~ 'Breathe Again' by Sara Bareilles ~_

* * *

The warmth of sunbeams touching my face woke me up. I blinked and opened my eyes.

It took me a moment to sort my surroundings; the unfamiliar chamber with bookstands and paintings on its walls, the high windows … and the enormous, broad bed I was resting in.

I tilted up and felt immediately for the side of my throat that was still throbbing and aching. My fingers touched the soft stuff of a bandage.

„It's healing already."

I jumped and looked up at the man who was sitting at the bay across the room with folded arms and a wrinkled forehead. His features were more edged than ever and he appealed to haven't slept in a while. There were dark shadows under his gleaming eyes…

„I sent a legman to your parents to inform them about what happened. They needed to know why you didn't return last night."

Of course they did. I was dead certain that they were in a constant state of freaking out right now. All their worst predictions about the Mikaelsons had proven to be true.

Klaus stood up and walked over to me. „How are you feeling?"

„Drowsy." I shrugged. „Weird. My memory is fuzzy."

He nodded as if he had expected that answer and sat down at the verge of his bed. „That's because you drank my blood."  
I noticed that he wasn't really looking at me. His regard was flaring as if he was avoiding to entirely face me. I took a deep breath. „You saved me. Thank you."

His chin braced. „That was the least I could do after my brother lashed out at you like this."

I grew puzzled. Was he blaming himself for that? „It wasn't your fault."

Now I had his full attention. The rampant rage in his eyes as he finally considered me was scary. „I shouldn't have invited you over. That was the mistake to begin with."

Even if that wasn't his intention, his words hurt me. I flinched. „I don't regret that I came here", I whispered.

„Then you're stupid." Klaus leaped up in a single bound and started anxiously roaming around. „You should regret it. You almost got killed and went through a hell lot of pain. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be in this situation. You …"

„Hey!" I had gotten up as well and tried my best to ignore the dizziness. I came up to him and reached with both my hands for his neck to pull his face to me. „Hey", I said again, softer this time, to calm him down. „It's okay. I'm not reproaching you. You couldn't know that this would happen." I bit my lip, suddenly getting shy again. „Even if you don't believe me, I really enjoyed last night until everything … went wrong."

His look was blazing. My heart tightened when I realized he wasn't going to get rif of my touch. „I was close to slit his throat when I saw what he did to you", he growled. „I couldn't stand the thought of you being gone forever."

I shivered. There had been never someone who was that protective over me – aside from my parents, who for obvious reasons didn't count – and I couldn't help but feel flattered. And safe. It was ridiculous really and so irrational, but I had never felt safer than here in this moment, at the side of one of the most dangerous vampires on earth.

„You need to rest again." Slowly Klaus broke away from me. „And I'm having some things to adjust myself. I told your parents you could stay here until you're strong enough to go back. And don't worry: Kol's not going to lay a finger on you again." His voice was icecold. „I made sure of that."

I didn't doubt it for a second – the expression of his face was murderous.

Reluctantly I climbed back into his bed and watched him go. Somehow the room felt empty without him.

* * *

I hadn't noticed that I had fallen half-asleep again until I heard someone knocking on the door.

„Come in!"

To my utter astonishment it was Rebekah who was shoving herself into the room. She looked also tired and her eyes were strangely red – as if she had been crying.

„What do you want?", I asked and bit my tongue as I realized how impolite that question sounded.

She didn't seem to mind though. Carefully she closed the door and walked up to my bed.

„I'm sorry to disturb you." She opened and closed her hands in a helpless gesture. „I know you need to be lying down and relax. But I wouldn't have come here if it wasn't really important."

I noticed how oddly untidy her style was; her long, blonde hair was messy like she hadn't even bothered to comb it in the morning and the dress she was wairing wasn't laced in the right way.

She kneeled in front of me and I saw the desperation in her blue eyes – the same eyes Klaus had. „I know I gave you every reason to dislike me, I know you probably don't care abou my suffering. But … I need your help, Caroline."

„_My_ help?", I wondered. „What could I possibly do for you?"

„You must convince Nik to stop torturing Kol." I could tell that she was just an inch away from bursting into tears. „Please … I _beg_ you."

I gasped. Klaus was torturing Kol? Was that the stuff he had to adjust?

„Please!" A single tear escaped Rebekah's eye now. „Please, Caroline. I will do anything you ask me for in return. Anything! I'll give you money. Or … or … some of my dresses. All of them, if you want. I got a lot of expensive jewelry, too. It's all yours if you do me this one favor!"

„Hold on." Confused I shook my head. „Why do you think that I should talk to Klaus about this?"

„Because he listens to you." Distressed she grabbed a corner of my sheet. Her knuckels emerged. „You're the only one he will listen to! I tried everything, I implored him on my knees … Usually I get my way with Nik but this time it's different. He's in such a dark place, such a state of fury …" She tremled. „You're the only one who can reach him there. If you tell him to stop racking Kol, he will do it for you. I know he will."

The eager expression on her face told me that she really believed that what she was saying was true.

I hesitated. Part of me wanted to wreak revenge on Kol. But not like this. Even if I was totally out of sorts with him, I couldn't stand the idea of Klaus inflicting pain on someone because of me. No matter what this person had done.

And Rebekah's pitiful solicitation awakened my compassion for her. Kol was definitely not the only one suffering right now.

I made my decision.

„I don't want your money or your dresses or your jewelry", I said gently.

„Please think about it!" Rebekah laid her hand exasperated over mine. „There must be something I can do for you …"

„Actually – there _is_ something", I nodded. I saw hope flashing in her face. „I want you to tell me the reason for Klaus' and Kol's dispute. I know he only attacked me to get back at Klaus. So why do they hate each other that much?"  
Rebekah buttoned her full, pink lips. „That", she breathed and looked like she was afraid of me suddenly, „that is the only thing I actually can't give you. Name anything else. But not this."

Her refusal made me want to know the answer to my question all the more so I chose to bluff. „Then I'm not going to help you. I'm sorry."

She was terrified, I could see it. Her downcast air reflected inner conflict.

„Keep in mind that Kol is hurting in this very moment …" I cringed at my own disgrace. I was playing dirty. But I needed her to tell me the truth. I was sure that Klaus didn't trust me enough to tell me and maybe he was right – I wasn't completely sure why I wanted to know their secret so badly. Was it because I wanted to find a weak spot, a weapon to destroy them? Or … because I was truly just interested in their story?

I didn't know anymore. Everything had mingled since I had set a foot on their estate.

„Fine." Rebekah abandoned the field and gave in to me. „I am going to tell you. But just to be clear: if I ever find out that you told another soul, I'm gonna rip your heart out. Is that understood?" She eyed me up menacingly.

God, what was it with these Originals and their constant threats? I rolled my eyes to show her that she didn't impress me with that. If Klaus was already making Kol's life a living hell because he tried to kill me, I didn't even want to imagine what he'd do to Rebekah if she succeeded at it.

„Okay." Rebekah breathed deeply. „You must understand that it all started three months ago. Nik discovered something that … displeased him. A lot. And whenever he is displeased, he acts kind of drastic."

„I noted. But you gotta give me a bit more than these unconcrete hints, Rebekah."

She looked up at me. Her eyes were huge and wet with uncried tears. „The reason why Kol hates Nik so much is because he was the one who forced me to marry Stefan."

An idea formed in my mind. But that was impossible. It couldn't be true …

„Kol is jealous of Stefan. Unbelievably jealous. Because he is in love with me. My own brother is in love with me."

* * *

It didn't come as a total, utter and complete shock.

I had had a notion when I had witnessed that drama at the dinner table yesterday but it had seemed so devious that I hadn't though about it further.

My mouth was dry. „And what about you?", I spoke under my breath. „Do you love him back?"

„With all my heart." Her voice didn't shake when she answered me. She didn't waver with her answer but gave me her whole honesty. I could tell that she was too whacked to be ashamed about it anymore.

I knew I should have been disgusted and revolted by her confession. Instead I felt sorry for her.

In this moment she was just a girl who was in love with a boy she could never have. Had there ever been a more tragic love story than hers?

Without thinking twice I took her hand in mine and caressed it sympathetically.

Surprised she answered my squeeze and smiled. I remembered how I had first met her and thought about how beautiful she'd be if she smiled – I had been right. If I had been any good at drawing, I'd felt the urge to paint her right now, with the tears, the smile, the fragileness and the strength at once.

„Aren't you gonna scream and tell me that I'm despicable?", she asked me.

I wagged my head. „I don't think you're despicable. I think you are very brave."

„Thank you." She wiped away a tear from her cheek. „Nik's reaction was very different when he found out about us."  
„How did he…?"

She guessed the direction of my question right. „He walked in on us. We were in bed. It's not one of my favorite memories of this year."

Somehow that made me laugh and after a moment's hesitation she joined in.

„When did it start with Kol and you?"

Her face became soft and very dreamy all of a sudden. „Kol was always special to me. Different than my other brothers. I think that I actually loved him all my life this way. It was very innocent when we were kids. But when we grew older, it became less innocent. I was 15 when I discovered it … we weren't even vampires there yet." She was lost in thoughts now. „I saw him kissing another girl. And I felt myself dying inside a bit. At first I tried to suppress my feelings. I knew that it was wrong to think about him as a man and not as my brother. And … I wasn't sure how he felt about me. He flirted with me but Kol's always flirting with everyone. All the girls in our village were crazy about him. But one day, when we were out in the woods … we kissed." She closed her eyes. „And it felt so good. You cannot imagine how good it felt. How can something that is wrong feel so good?" She watch?v=o88zR612jfApened them again and looked at me as if she was expecting an answer. „We tried a few times to stay away from each other. It never lasted long. I know how you must think of Kol, considering how he treated you. But that's not the Kol he is with me. With me he is … tender. Caring. Loving. But Nik's decision to push me towards Stefan – that completely destroyed him. I'm not saying he was a good man before … but ever since he's completely changed. It's like he doesn't care about anything anymore, apart from doing everything in his power to get his revenge on Nik. And I think sometimes …" She swallowed and looked so sad that I wanted to hug her. „I think sometimes he hates even me. Because I didn't escape with him from Nik and this marriage with Stefan. He is convinced that I don't love him enough."

Funny because wasn't it the very opposite? Didn't Rebekah love Kol too much? I could see how her love for him was destroying her right now.

She was right, she needed my help. Determined I got out of bed. „Where are Klaus and Kol? Let's find them. We should end this now."

* * *

**+ So, the secret's out. Do you like it or not? I'm a hardcore Rebekol shipper and this was planned from the very beginning, so sorry to the person who said in a review that she didn't want me to go there - to late, haha^^**

**++ The Klaroline scene in this chapter was inspired by the Delena scene in 3x09 (if you wanna rewatch it: watch?v=o88zR612jfA), even if you're not a DE shipper, you must admit that 00:41 is hot *.***

**+++ *advertising: start* BTW, I've started another FF about Kol and Faye (from The Secret Circle), give it a try maybe? :'D *advertising: end***


	9. Chapter IX

**Sorry for the long wait, lovelies, but I'm really stressed with my exams and until they're over, it's hard for me to concentrate on writing in my free time. But here's one little update, I hope I'll be able to give you another one til my exams are done :)**  
**Happy reading! **

* * *

_"You're completely off-limits_  
_for more reason than just one."_

_~ 'Wonder' by Lauren Aquilina ~_

* * *

The cellar of the Mikaelsons property, where Rebekah led me, was more akin to a dungeon – a very huge, very dark and very scary dungeon.

I automatically shivered as we descended to the cold gloom of the basement. If it wasn't for Rebekah who I was able to make out walking right in front of me, I probably would've stumbled already because I had no idea where to turn to. Darkness was everywhere and there was barely any sound, except for the little moans I could hear every now and then mutually from both of my sides.

„I think there is someone here", I whispered to Rebekah.

„Of course there is." Though I couldn't see her face, I knew due to the tone of her voice that she was surprised by my statement. „Nik's prisoners."

„His _what_?"

Horrified I stopped dead in my tracks for a moment, then hurried up again to catch up with her. „He has prisoners? What for?"

„Different reasons. Most of them are only humans – don't forget, we need to get something in our system to survive, too." She was as casual as if we were talking about the weather.

It upset me very much that she didn't seem to think of those people as anything more than her next meal but I held my tongue – now was not the right time to start a discussion about this.  
I still had enough time to consider what I would do about this later.

„And the others?"

„They are enemies we needed to get rid of for a while but haven't decided yet what to do with."

The thought of being surrounded by other vampires who were watching our steps from close up gave me the creeps. I could only hope they were at least behind bars.

"We're almost there."

Rebekah touched my arm to get my attention.

I spotted a dim light at the end of the path shining through a door crack. Relieved I followed her, glad to get this eerie walk behind me. Not only did I not feel safe down here, I also started having second thoughts about my decision to help her rescuing Kol. This murky prison unveiled a whole new side of Klaus to me; it was exactly everything my parents had warned me about. And what was I even doing here? I was human – Rebekah might needed my help right now but who told me she wouldn't turn me into her next snack if I failed at persuading Klaus to let their brother go?

This was all insane.

But it was too late to run now. And after all, I wasn't one to break promises.

Impatiently, Rebekah pushed down the handle and the light of torches illumined the hallway.

I blinked and looked around myself. What I saw was worse than anything I had imagined.

This was clearly the room where Klaus usually hold his enemies hostage to get information out of them or simply to torture them because they had offended him – the whole cabinet was filled with several antique looking instruments of torture and each wall was affixed with iron manacles to chain hands, feet or head of the captive.

At the wall opposite to us was Kol. Even though he was covered in blood and didn't parade his usual snarky facial expression, I still could recognize him. His clothes were entirely torn and exposed his naked skin which was marked with old and fresh wounds. He lay on the ground, so motionless, that for a slight moment I assumed he was dead; then I realized he had only passed out.

The sight of him nauseated me. Dizzily I supported myself against the door.

"Kol!" There was so much despair, worry and pain in Rebekah's voice that it brought tears to my eyes. She rushed up to him so quickly that my human vision didn't even _see_ her span the distance. Her arms closed around him and embedded his head on her lap. "Oh, Kol, please wake up … I'm sorry I didn't come earlier, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you …"

His eyes fluttered up. Puzzled they located her and widened. "Bekah … what are you doing here? Go away. He's coming back soon."

I noticed now that there was another door linked to this chamber and I already heard footsteps behind it. Kol was right. Klaus would be here any minute.

"Can you free him?" I kneeled next to Rebekah. "We need to get him out of here now. I think it is better if I talk to Klaus alone. Maybe he'll let me explain …"

"Let you explain _what_ exactly?"

Rebekah and I span around at the same time.

"Klaus …", I breathed. He stood in front of me with crossed arms and a strained jaw. His cheek muscle twitched and the murderous intent in his dark eyes told me that he was on the verge of attacking Rebekah.

I noticed that there was blood on his beige-colored shirt, too – Kol's blood. Not only did he want to see Kol get tortured for his act, he also didn't have a problem with doing the dirty job himself. What kind of man what do something like that to his own brother?

He saw the horror in my face before I was able to hide it from him. Swiftly he took a step forward but I immediately backed off. Hurt displaced the anger in his expression now, then he gritted his teeth. "This is no place for you to be, Caroline. Leave. Now."  
I shook my head and folded my arms just like him. "I'm not going without Kol and Rebekah. This needs to stop, Klaus. He is your _brother_ for god's sake."

He considered me distantly. "You don't need to remind me of that."  
I gave a desperate laugh. "Apparently I do! How can you torment him like that, Klaus? Rebekah told me this is because of me …" I swallowed and didn't dare to look at him in this moment. "I don't know if she's right but if she is … if it is because of me, then please let him go. I don't want to be the reason for your quarrel."

He examined me warily, as if he wasn't sure what to make of my words. "You are serious, aren't you? You have every reason to hate Kol, yet you are here, trying to save him." Baffled he cocked his eyebrows. "I don't get you, Caroline."  
I saw his honest confusion and I slowly began to understand that no one had ever done something like this for him. My behaviour was unsettling him because he wasn't used to selflessness. In his world, everyone always had an ulterior motive for their actions and now he was wondering what mine was.

My throat tightened. My hands yearned to reach out for his face and cup it, to tell him that he could trust me, that I wouldn't betray him. But since the whole cause of my visit here was to find his weak spot, it would be untrue and I didn't want to lie to his face. I wanted to be honest with him.

"Please", I simply repeated and begged him with my eyes.

Klaus smiled a little, agonised and resigned at the same time. Self-forgotten he tucked a loose wisp of my hair up. "This is going way too far ...", he said with a low voice. Then, before I could ask what he meant with his cryptic statement, he dropped his hand and turned to Rebekah who was still sitting on the floor next to Kol, her body shoved protectively in front of his.

"You can take him with you, Sister. But tell him that if he lays another hand on Caroline, I will give him back _in_ _kind_."

With that, he vanished from the chamber.

* * *

I spent the rest of the day in Klaus' bed, staring into space or gazing in abstraction out of the window. I hardly noticed the beauty of the fallen, multi-colored leaves or the rain drops refreshing the green grass. All I could think about was a certain vampire who had taken over my thoughts.

Part of me wanted to tell him that I felt better already, that my parents should collect me and take me home. I was getting too involved and that frightened me, way more than the darkness of any dungeon could ever do. I desperately needed to flee and yet … there was this other part of me that couldn't let go, that just wanted to stay here forever, laying on his sheets that smelt seductively like him, his very own male scent that had become so familiar.

I had never felt so torn and so daced in my entire life.

When the sky behind the windows darkened, my stomach began to rumble and I realized that I hadn't eaten anything today. I went to the antique looking vanitiy next to his wardrobe where a water bowl was placed and threw some of it into my face to calm down a bit.

Then I left the room and careered along the corridor towards the kitchen.

I heard loud chattering behind the closed doors and hesitantly knocked. The cook opened me, a chubby woman with red cheeks. "What can I do for you, dear?", she asked me with a kind smile. "Are you hungry? Dinner's being served in just about half an hour, do you think you can be patient until then?"

I nodded, inhaling the smell of the food she was cooking. "I will try my best."

After she closed the door, I felt a little lost in this huge house. Everything was so quiet here, the servants really did their best not to be apparent. Rebekah was busy consoling Kol, I hadn't seen Elijah the whole day and Klaus … my heart was already racing at the thought of seeing him at dinner again, let alone somewhere where we would be alone.

I looked down the hall and wondered behind which of these doors he was right now. Tentatively I opened the one clostest to me. At once glance I detected this to be Elijah's room – there was a huge tester bed in the middle of the room, with three naked girls laying on it in his arms. All of them raised their heads when I entered and looked at me incredously.

"Ups." I held a hand over my mouth and retreated. "Ohh, I'm sorry. Sorry, this was a mistake. Errm, do go on."

I shut the door again and leaned against it. Then I burst out in laughter.

This was bound to be fun.

The chambers behind the other doors didn't allow such deep inspection as Elijah's – I found two bathrooms, a study, several guest rooms, one very intriguing room that had only mirrors on its walls and a cabinet with another piano and other musical instruments; all of them were empty except for some servants who were busy with cleaning and didn't seem to mind my breaking in. Apart from the dining room, there was only one door left for me to open on this floor. With curiosity I pushed down the doorhandle.

What I saw took me completely by surprise.

It was a gallery, full of finished and half-finished oil paintings on its walls. Everywhere stood cups with various brushes and used sample boards.

In the middle of all of it was Klaus, standing before a huge painting which was placed with its back on me. When he spotted me, he raised an eyebrow. "I should have compelled you to get some rest. You are apparently incapable of doing what somebody advises you to."  
His voice was all mockery and it made me giggle.

"I can't find any sleep and I'm bored."

"Then it is my duty to distract you." He waved me to his side. "Come. If you are here now, you just might as well look at my latest achievement."

I walked over to him and looked at the painting he was currently busy with.

It was clearly his masterpiece. Though his other landscapes and images were already astonishing but they didn't stand a chance against this portrait. It was the face of a woman, a very, very beautiful woman. She didn't look at the observe of the picture but stared into the distance, lost in thoughts. Her face was soft at this moment, even though the flashing in her eyes gave another side of her away, something wilder that she was hiding inside.  
She reminded me of someone but I wasn't sure of whom exactly.

"She is gorgeous", I whispered.

"Yes, she is."  
I turned to him and noted that he hadn't been looking at his painting but at me. I blushed.

"Who is she?"

Klaus smirked. "Hmm, I seem to be a worse painter than I thought."

I shot him a questioning look.

"It's you." He said with a small smile. "This is a painting of you."

Speechlessly I turned around and faced it again. Was he for real? _This _beauty should be _me_?

That was impossible. Was he making fun of me? Distrusting I looked asquint at him but his face was completely serious, even a bit eager, as if he was waiting for my reaction.

My mouth became dry. Did he see me this way?

Was the woman in the painting, who looked so strong, so pretty and so full of light his version of me?

"I ... I don't know what to say", I whispered.

"You don't need to say anything."

Without me noticing he had gotten closer to me. Again, I drew back, but this time not because I was afraid of him. This time I was afraid of myself.

"Don't." I shook my head. "Don't approach me like this."  
"Why not?" His tone was calm, not even a bit reproachful.

I licked my lips. "You know why. This can't happen. This whole situation is already ... inappropriate enough. Me sleeping in your bed ... if anyone knew ..."

"Who would tell them?"

My back made contact with the wall. There was no more space I could espace into right now. I looked up at him. "My family send me here to spy on you!", I blurted out in desperation. "That's why they let me come here."  
"I know."

My confession didn't throw him. He eyed me up as if he was waiting for something.

"You knew?", I gasped. "And you don't care?"

He shrugged, then he supported himself with his arms against the wall to both of my sides. I was trapped. And the worst part of it: it didn't even bother me.

"I know I should care. I shouldn't have invited you here in the first place. I shouldn't even have danced with you. Or visited you."

"Visited m-?"

"The thing is, Caroline, that I can't get you out of my head", he interrupted me. "Usually I don't get that attached. I'm always in control, always. Except whem I'm with you. This is a very new situation for me and I don't know how to handle it. But I know what I want." His voice was husky and tempting. Every word of his was shocking and yet music for my ears. "I want _you_."

My breathing stopped. Everything felt surreal. I stopped thinking.

My mouth opened by itself … and then his lips were on mine.

* * *

**Yep, cliffhanger again, haha, I'm mean, I know :D But no worries, I'll continue EXACTLY where I left off in the next chapter!**

**I hoped you liked it? Please let me know :3**


	10. Chapter X

**+ Hey guys! New chapter again :) I am VERY eager to hear what you'll think of this one :O**

**++ Some people asked in which century this story takes place: it's supposed to be set somewhere in the 19th century. I originally planned for this story to be a bit like 'Pride and Prejudice' but as you may have noticed, it isn't very similar. Writing took me to new ideas ;) Of course the story is not really historically exact, I hope you don't mind that too much.**

**+++ Happy reading!**

* * *

_"There's nobody who wants you like I do  
Who is to say?_  
_Who is to say?  
Who is to know the truth?"  
~ 'Weightless' by Black Lab ~_

* * *

I had been kissed before; some stolen, sneaky kisses in secret during boring social appointments but they had been quick and innocent compared to _this_.

No one had ever kissed me like this in my whole life.

When our lips crashed together, my brain shut completely off. He occupied my mouth and my thougts at the same time and I got overwhelmed by an inexplicable feeling that was stronger and deeper than everything I had ever experienced before.

His fingers wove their way into my hair and leaned my head backwards so that he could have his way with me. Even though my back was already against the wall, I hold on to him as firmly as I could because I felt like my legs were going to wilt under the pressure.

Dizzy and thirsty for his kiss, I pulled him closer to me. It wasn't enough just to feel his mouth, I needed to feel his body, too. He groaned and my heart jumped triumphantly.

„Ahem."

The sound of someone coughing suddenly interrupted us.

Klaus broke off from me a little but didn't release me. „Go away", he growled without taking his eyes of my swollen lips.

I shivered and looked over his shoulder, spotting Elijah standing in the middle of the room, fully dressed now and with an amused expression on his face. „Now that's what I call proper payback, Caroline", he smiled. „Though I am mainly here to tell you that dinner's ready."

Klaus swore under his breath and finally took his hands away from me. Although I yearned to continue where we had left off, the pain in my stomach told me that I needed to eat something urgently.

„We are not done here", Klaus whispered into my ear and made me shudder pleasantly.

* * *

The dining hall was dimly enlightened. The table was set for five persons and Rebekah and Stefan were already awaiting us.

Though they sat next to each other, they weren't talking but looking into different directions. I was certain that the fact that Rebekah was nursing Kol right now wasn't exactly pleasing to Stefan, even if his betrothal to her was only affected. As we entered the room, both looked up at once and appeared relieved to be finally escaping the awkward silence between them.

„Miss Forbes, how are you feeling?", Stefan asked me worriedly. „I heard about your accident."

„No need to euphemise, Stefan", Klaus responded and had a seat next to me. „It wasn't an accident, my foolish brother in fact attacked her."

Being so close to him again after what happened in his painting room slightly distracted me.

The first course was served and everybody was eating in quiet. As I reached out to grab the salt, Klaus moved at the same time and our hands randomly collided. The contact with his bare skin set me on fire immediately. He inhaled sharply and we exchanged glances.

I saw the hunger in his eyes and was sure it had nothing to do with the meal we were just ingesting. Quickly I withdrew. „Sorry", I muttered.

He said nothing, took the salt and served me first. While he was doing it, our knees touched under the table top. I trembled and almost dropped my fork. This time I was sure he had done it on purpose. I had seen through his little play but if he thought he could confound me like that without being punished, he was wrong.

Instead of asking for the water bottle which was placed on his left side, I leaned forward to get it myself so that my breasts brushed his shoulder. His reaction was immediate: he winced and overthrew his wine glass. The white table cloath sucked the red liquid up.

„Oh, I'm so terribly sorry." I pretended to be bewildered. „This is completely my fault."

I stood up and prepared to clean the mess with my napkin while my the curve of my hips touched his right arm.

„Stop it", he growled huskily and wrenched the napkin from me.

I sat down again and withheld my giggling – the sight of him was just too hilarious. But before I had the time to enjoy my small victory, his fingers met my cheek and caressed it gently. His touch nearly made me moan in front of everybody and I choked to suppress it.

„I thought there was something", Klaus explained innocently as I shot him an reproachful look. But he wasn't fooling me - I saw the jolly laughter in his eyes.

_Oh, just you wait, my friend. This is far from over. _

During the next courses, there was no holding back anymore. While Elijah and Stefan started a conversation about wine-growing estates, Rebekah escaped this boredom by drinking almost two bottles of wine and the servants dished up the most diverse food, each one better than the one before, a war between Klaus and me started that none of the others took notice of.

Klaus seemed to be dissatisfied with my clothes all of a sudden because he kept on adjusting them all the time: He pretended to tie the ribbon of my dress once again, tugged at my sleeves or removed invisible spots on the material, while in reality he searched for excuses to touch me at absolute inproper parts of my body – and instead of telling him off, I relished it and provoked him even more by constantly licking my lips.

As soon as the dessert was served – fruits with melted chocolate – there was no holding me back anymore; I took a deep red strawberry, dipped it into the chocolate and licked it off appreciatively. „Hmm", I curred. „This is delicious."

I put the strawberry into my mouth and sucked it slowly.

In a flash, Klaus was on his feet and grabbed me. „Excuse us", he told the others in a flat voice. „There's something urgent we need to discuss."

Then he dragged me violently out of the room. Even before he let the door shut completely, we already went for each other. His kiss was so passionate that I was running out of air. Our teeth crashed against each other's and I crawled my fingers into his hair.

„Don't ever do that in public again", he hissed. „Or I won't be able to pull myself together."  
I snickered deligthed. „I will do whatever I want. Boss your siblings around if you must but don't even try that commanding tone of yours on me, it won't work. I'm not afraid of you."

„Is that so?" With a concentrated mien he eyed me up, searching for something in my face that he didn't find.

„Yes", I assured him calmly. „I trust you, Klaus."

He kissed me again, more gently this time. „You still taste like strawberry", he mumbled against my lips. „Ah, Caroline. I want to make you mine."

_And_ _I_ _want_ _to_ _be_ _yours_. I closed my eyes and leaned my forhead against his. This was what peace must truly felt like, I thought to myself. It was the most beautiful thing on earth. When I was with him, there was nothing to worry about, nothing to fear or to take care of. It was only him and me, in this precious moment of intimacy. His arms around me were destined to be there. Everything felt right.

But all good things came to an end once ...

„I wish I could stay with you", I said resigned. „But I need to return home tomorrow. My parents are probably going crazy right now."

Klaus chuckled. „Oh, they are, trust me. I received some very nasty letters already, something about skilled hunters they will put onto me if I don't release you soon from this prison."  
„Glad that at least one of us thinks that's funny", I remarked drily. „You are aware that they will never allow me to visit you again, are you? Let alone you coming to our place."

„Don't worry about that, I'll find my way to you", he assured me cryptically. He cupped my face with his hands and lifted my chin. „You are tired. You should go to bed now."  
I smiled. „Only if you come with me."

„That was my plan all along."

With that he heaved my whole body as if I was as light as a feather and carried me towards his room.

* * *

We talked the whole night. At first there was still space between us on his bed but afer a while I got so comfortable around thim, that I rested my head on his chest. His fingers played with my hair and he told me stories from his past, about foreign countries he had seen, other supernatural creatures he had met and his experiences with the different decades.  
My favorite era in his tales was the time he had been born, the 10th century. Not only sounded the period of the Vikings thrilling but the way he narrated it captivated me. His soft, husky voice lulled me and after hours of story-telling, I finally felt my eyelids become heavy.

I huddled up against him and closed my eyes.

„Good night, love", he whispered. „Sweet dreams."

I fell asleep before I could wish him the same.

* * *

„Rise and shine, sleepyhead!"

Someone opened up the curtains of the window and blazing light shined into the room.

I screwed up my eyes and blinked. Instantly my fingers felt for Klaus next to me – but the sheets where he had been lying were empty.

There was no sign of Klaus in the room. Instead of him Rebekah was standing next to the bed and smiling down on me. „Honestly, Caroline, you've slept since forever. Be thankful that I'm here to get you some action."

I rolled my eyes at that. „What do you want?"

„Am I so easily to see through?" She sighed and dropped the smile. „Well, since you asked, I am going to be totally honest with you: I have someone here that wants to talk to you. You may not be too keen on meeting him again but –"

I rose in panic. „Rebekah, you did _not_ invite Kol here, did you?"

„Relax, Caroline. He is not going to hurt you, I promise. He just wants to talk to you."

„What could he possibly have to say to me?", I scolded.

„How about an apology?"

I stiffened as Klaus youngest brother entered the room. His wounds had healed, the blood was washed off from his skin and he was wearing fresh clothes – Rebekah surely had done a pretty good job on taking care of him. He didn't come any closer to me, probably because he noticed my sudden fear, but stopped behind the door sill.

„Rebekah told me it was you who persuaded Klaus to let me go", he said quietly. „I wanted to thank you for that."

„I didn't do it for you!", I responded grimly. „I did it for her."

He just shrugged at my comment. „Either way, I owe you. And I take such obligation very serious. If you're ever in need for anything, come to me and I'll do whatever I can to help you. You should know that."  
I didn't know how to respond to that. The man standing in front of me wasn't the monster that had attacked me but that didn't mean we would be friends from now on. I still didn't trust him and really wished he would leave. His presence made me nervous.

Rebekah's eyes jumpily travelled back and forth between us. I could see how anxious she was that this encounter proceeded peacefully and it soothed me a bit.

„However, I don't regret what I did to you", Kol suddenly stated and had my attention again.

„Kol!", Rebekah hissed taunting but he ignored her.

„I needed to do it. I _am_ sorry though that you were the one I had to hurt. It was nothing personal, you were just collateral damage. Sorry, Bekah", he applied to Rebekah who looked outraged. „That's the best apology I can offer."

„I will think about what you said", I told him. „But that doesn't mean that I forgive you. Just so you know."

He smirked before he left the chamber again. „Fair is fair, I guess."

„Well, well." Agitatedly Rebekah clapped her hands. „That didn't went as well as I hoped. But not as badly as I feared either."

Grinning I shook my head. „How long did you had to persuade him to come to me?"

„Some hours", she answered me with such an honest face that it made me laugh again.

„Thank you. I know you only had good intentions." I climbed out of the bed and started to dress up. „I'm going to return home today. Do you know where I can find Klaus? I need to say goodbye to him."

She shook her head. „Haven't seen him since he felt you up at dinner yesterday and you two eagerly went off to ‚discuss' something."

I blushed deeply. So much for no one noticing us …

* * *

After I had put on new clothes and sneaked into the kitchen to steal some food that was left from the breakfast earlier, I walked around to search for Klaus. He was nowhere to be found, not even in the library, his favorite place, but the booklover inside of me still got stuck there for a while and went through the huge supply of novels, biographies and short stories.

Self-forgotten I extracted some of his collection, looked at the covers and read the description. I thought about my first day here where he had provided me to take ‚Great Expectations' as a present and I had refused – I couldn't think now what had came over me, I really needed to take him up on that offer again.

„And who might _you_ be now?"

Startled I cringed, dropped the book in my hands and turned around.

In the middle of the room stood an elusively beautiful woman in a gorgeous, fasionable, blue dress made out of silk, that was halfway through printed with dark roses. Her eyes were as black as her hair which she was wearing open and curly and her hands were covered in expensive white gloves. For a woman, she was very tall, an impression that was furhtermore amplified through her gazelle-like, dainty thinness.

Her whole appearance was as impressing as it was intimidating and even though she was smiling at me, there was something odd about her that told me to be on my guard against her.

She patterend me from head to toe. „Have you lost your voice?", she asked me, still smiling very broad. „I asked you a question."

I frowned. Even though her words were impolite, her tone was so inordinately friendly that she could get away with it and that bugged me.

„My name is Caroline Forbes", I told her carefully and curtsied. „And with whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

„Camille Thornton." She approached me and bended down to pick up the book that had fallen to the ground. „These are valuable", she told me reprehending as she got up again. „You shouldn't handle them as careless as you just did."

Iritated by the way she was talking to me, I raised an eyebrow. „Excuse me but who exactly are you? I have never seen you here before."

She dissolved into giggles. „Then you can't have been around for long. This estate whose books you were just damaging is after all mine."

This was _her_ home? Klaus had told me last night that he had two other siblings apart from the ones I already met but I as I recalled it both had been brothers. Had I misunderstood him?

„Are you Klaus' sister?", I asked cautiously, looking for any resembling details in her

doll- like face.

„Oh no, silly." Camille gave a high, clear laugh again, a noise I already hated. „I'm not his sister." Her smile widened and exposed white, perfect formed teeth. „I am Klaus' fiancée."

* * *

**So, cliffhanger again. I know, I know, y'all hate me for this, haha, but I just love ending a chapter like that ;) **

**What do you think of Camille? On a skala from 1 - 10, how bitchy is she? :P**


	11. Chapter XI

**Hey there :3 Here's another piece chapter because I'm really having fun writing this story right now thanks to all the nice reviews of my "regulars" here, you guys rock! :D**

* * *

_"I die each time you look away  
My heart, my life will never be the same."  
_

_~ 'Love Song Requiem' by Trading Yesterday ~  
_

* * *

As the meaning of Camille's words began to sink in, seconds turned into hours and time seemed to be standing still at once. Everything felt surreal.

I looked at her in disbelief, sifting through her sentence and trying to form it in a new way, so that it somehow made more sense than what she just had said.

She _wasn't_ Klaus' fiancée. That was impossible.

„Pardon me." I cleared my throat, frantically searching for my old courage again that I had outright lost in her presence. „I'm afraid I just misheard you. Could you ... could you say that again, please?"

I was well aware that I was clatching at any straw I could get in this moment. But deep down in me a feeling started to rise, a stirring of wanting to throw up and cry at the same time and I desperately needed to suppress that emotion.  
„I'm Niklaus' fiancée", Camille repeated in a sickeningly sweet way. She twisted one of her black strands around her finger and regarded me with mild curiosity. „Are you feeling ill, Miss Forbes? You look beyond terrible."

I opened my mouth to answer her but I was at a complete loss for words.

„No, I ... I'm fine", I stammered.

Before I could think of something more to say, the door to the library opened a second time and no other than Klaus accessed it. The sight of his rumpled light brown hair and the confident walk immediately calmed me down a bit. He was preoccupied in a bunch of letters that he was holding in his hands and didn't notice the two of us right away.

I longed to come up to him so he could assure me that this was some kind of a sick joke or simply a mistake ... but Camille beat me to it.

Shouting with glee she stormed towards him. „Niklaus!"

His head shot up and he stared at her in utter surprise. Then he laughed and caught her in his arms, twirling her through the air. „Cam. What are you doing here, love?"

None of them even paid attention to me anymore as they hugged each other joyfully and indulged in their reunion. She ran her fingers through his hair, exactly the way I had done yesterday, and instead of telling her to stop it, he let her go on with it and tolerated her touch.

„God, I've missed you", Camille sighed, leaned over and planted a kiss directly on his mouth.

The world around me started spinning.

My pulse set in to race unnaturally as I watched them embracing each other suddenly in a glowing, deep, steamy kiss directly in front of me.

Klaus did not look at me once. Apparently he didn't even care that I was in the same room as them, too, that I was forced to watch them. All he cared about was his Camille.

A single tear escaped my eye but I wiped it off defiantly. I wouldn't do him the favor to cry like some little girl, at least not in his presence. He wasn't going to watch me break down – I wanted to maintain at least this one last dignity.

My hands were shaking so hard that I had to hide them behind my back so they wouldn't betray me and show them how distraught I was. I breathed deeply to fight the emerging tears.

After what felt like an eternity they moved apart. Camille featured a very satisfied expression on her face and snuggled up against him.

I suddenly noticed that they were holding hands and winced as if Klaus had slapped me.

He still hadn't the guts to look straight into my face because he was busy regarding his _fiancée_ affectionately and that was the worst part of it all: not that he was kissing another woman, but that he was kissing her and it was all the same to him if it hurt me or not.

„So who is this new face over there that was just violently rummaging through our books, Klaus?", Camille enquired lightly and pointed at me.

_Our_ books ... I bit my lips because they had started trembling, too.

„Are you talking about Miss Forbes?"

Finally Klaus turned to me and gave me a level look. His blue eyes were ice-cold, his face completely expressionless. I was Miss Forbes again to him. „Oh, she is a friend of Rebekah's. I hardly know her, Cam."

_Don't cry infront of him. You. Will. Not. Cry. In. Front. Of. Him._

I could have revealed his bare lie to Camille at this instant. I could have told her that he had been kissing me, even wooing me a bit while she had been gone, just to crash her arrogance and destroy their happiness. But what was the point in that?

Nothing I could say would change anything about Klaus' feelings for me. He didn't want me and he never had, at least not in the way that I wanted him. He had clearly just used me for his amusement to pass time until his real love returned to him. He had been fooling me since the day we met and I had fallen for his act completely. Stupid, stupid, little me.

How could I have been so naive to think for even one second that he was actually interested in me? A man with his power and his looks could get any woman he wanted in the world and of course someone like Camille was his first choice, not someone like me.

They looked stunning together, both matched the other one in their deadly and perfect beauty.

I had entirely lost sight of who I was. I didn't belong to this place. This was Camille's home and I needed to get the hell out of here.

„It was nice meeting you", I told her with a voice that I hardly recognized as my own. „I was just on my way to go back to the estate of my parents though, so I have to take my leave already. Have a nice stay."

I gathered my dress and made my way past them with a stiffened back. I lowered my head so my eyes wouldn't meet his because I just couldn't bear the pain - but it wasn't even necessary: Camille captured his attention already again by smothering him with more kisses.

Something inside of me broke quietly into a million, little pieces.

Like a sleepwalker I paced the corridor, went down the stairs and said goodbye to the servants at the entrance. When they asked me how I'd liked my visit here, I forced a smile on my face and even managed polite lie.

As the same carriage drove up that had brought me here two days ago, a soft moan came off my throat but I managed to climb in and shut the door before I allowed myself to weep freely after all. The tears were almost a relief, it had been so incredibly hard to hold them back.

I started crying like I never had in my entire life before. My uncontrollable sobbing shook my whole body and let out all the despair I had been choking ever since Camille had entered the library. The image of her kissing Klaus and fondling him was indelibly imprinted into my memory, it haunted me and whenever my tears stopped for a moment, it came back at full tilt just to agonize me all over again.

While I was lying on the ground of the carriage with tears streaming down my face and hopelessly clinging to the seats, the cruel, painful realization hit me that without me even noticing I had irretrievably and irreversibly fallen in love with Klaus.

* * *

„Honey, you're finally back. We've been so worried about you! Are you alright?"

My mother pulled me out of the coach and locked me in her arms. Under different circumstances I would been happy to see her again but now I didn't feel anything while I hugged her back.

„What happened to your eyes?", my father asked in a shocked voice, looking down on me over her shoulder. „Have you been crying, Caroline?"

I was sure that they were red and swollen from my weeping so it was pointless to pretend like nothing had happened.

„I will explain everything later", I promised with a weak voice though I had absolutely no intention on explain anything whatsoever. „But can you let me rest for a while? I'm terribly exhausted."

Ignoring their protests I went up to my room and collapsed into bed.

I didn't move the whole day.

* * *

„What the ...?"  
Elena trod my bed chamber with an incredulous expression. „Care, what is going on? I didn't want to believe your parents when they told me that you haven't eaten or slept in two days now! Are you even changing your clothes regularly?"

I stared blankly at the ceiling. „What's the point in that?"

My parents had obviously sent my best friend to me to make me talking again but I still didn't feel like speaking about what had happened at the Mikaelson's property. Everyone believed that Klaus was a monster anway, so if I told them the truth, I would never hear the end of it.

Two days now since I had left him. Two days without any sign of him. No contact of any kind, no word, no letter ... he was probably busy with Camille and the very thought of them being together filled me with nausea.

„Caroline?"  
I looked at Elena who had sat with me on the edge of my bed. Her huge, brown eyes were full of concern for me. „Will you tell me why you are ... like this? I'm worried about you."

I gave her a small smile. „I know and I'm sorry. But you don't really want to know, trust me."

„If you can't talk about, then it's fine with me. Just know that I'm here for you whenever you need me, okay?" She stood up, grabbed my hand and pulled me with her. „But I won't accept this current state of yours. You're going to take a bath and dress up. There is someone downstairs who wants to talk to you but he can't see you like that. I'll keep him busy while you make yourself look as pretty as usual again!"  
„Who is it?" My heart beat sped up straightaway.

„See for yourself. And now hurry!"

* * *

Lucy helped me getting ready in no time. She chose my dress, a cream lemon one with a broad white ribbon around my waist, coiffured me and told me how glad she was to have me back in between.

„I was absolutely bored and had nothing to do while you were gone. Don't ever do that to me again, understood?"

Lightly I kissed her on the cheek. „Understood."

I walked down the stairs and paused in the lobby. I heard several voices in the lounge, one of them in particular unfamiliar to this place – I opened the door and spotted my father and mother sitting and laughing together with Elena ... and Tyler.

As he saw me, he stood up and they all became quiet at once.

Something was going on but I had absolutely no idea what it was.

Tyler bowed to me. „Good afternoon, Caroline. Would you care for a walk with me?"

Confused I interlaced my fingers. Why was he behaving so formally? And why was everyone staring eagerly at us?  
_Say_ _yes_, Elena formed with her mouth behind Tyler's back and beamed at me.

„Sure", I nodded and followed him uneasily outside, taking a little jacket and a scarf matching the colors of my dress with me.

We started walking side by side across the lawn and he engaged me in a conversation about the weather.

Still nervous because my parents and Elena had been acting so oddly, my answers came off short and bland. From time to time I peered at him, wondering what I had ever really seen in him. He was in fact very good-looking but we had absolutely nothing to talk about.

And it had taken Klaus only days to make me forget all about Tyler ...  
„... have been thinking about this for a long time now. You are everything I want in a woman."

I blinked as he all of a sudden kneeled down in front of me.

„Tyler!"

„I know this must come as a surprise to you", he said with a grin, mistaking my horror for excitement. „But I have singled you out as the companion for my future life. Miss Caroline, Forbes, will you marry me?"

I had no idea how to respond. This was my first proposal of marriage ever and the little girl inside of me dreaming about this day since forever had never imagined it would take place like this: me being heartbroken and the man asking for my hand not the man I was in love with.

What was I going to say?

„I'm ... Tyler, I'm very flattered", I made a desperate effort to spare his feelings. „But ... you are right, this _is_ a suprise. I will need some time for myself to think about it."

His smile darkened with irritation. „Please, what is there to think about, Caroline? I am one of the richest bachelors in Mystic Falls, all the ladies want me to marry their daughters. You can honestly consider yourself lucky that I selected you out of all people!"

„I know, I do", I insured him. „But ..." My voice trailed off. _But we are not right for each other. But I don't love you. But I love someone else._ „But accepting a marriage is something that should be considered wisely."

Annoyed he got up on his feet again and took my hands in his. „I wanted to be civil to you and not mention this but apparently you leave me no choice, Caroline: everyone in town knows that you have been staying at the Mikaelson's overnight."

Immediately I grew stiff. I knew what he was going to say ...

„People are talking about it. Rumors spread very quickly. How many more proposals do you think you will get the chance to accept after all this? Nobody wants to marry a girl someone else has already used ..."

„He hasn't touched me like that", I whispered, deeply hurt. „Nothing has happened."

Tyler stroke my cheek. „I know. I believe you. But not everybody is going to be as generous as me, Caroline. You should keep that in mind before you turn me down."

My mind was emptied. I couldn't think clearly.

Was he right? Was the whole town talking about me? Did they assume Klaus had taken advantage of the situation?

_Nobody wants to marry a girl someone else has already used._

The only man I really wished to marry didn't want me anyway. So did it matter after all if I married Tyler or anyone else? Either way I was never completely going to be happy.

Maybe it was better to be with just someone instead of being alone.

And at least I knew Tyler. He was going to treat me well and I could stay close to my parents and friends. He was the perfect choice. Everyone would be so overjoyed if I accepted.

„Yes", I said under my breath before I could have a change of heart. „I will marry you, Tyler."

In triumph he hugged me to himself and started kissing me. I closed my eyes, tried to relax and pretended that those lips weren't his but someone else's.

Finally he broke away from he, dragged me along behind him through our garden and started getting excited about our next steps. „The engagement period shouldn't be too long, I don't want to wait more than necessary. Tomorrow is going to be a teaparty at the Donovan's – the whole society is invited, so that's a very good occasion for us to announce that we are going to get married, don't you think?"

He didn't wait for my responce but started going on about this for what seemed like an hour.

Meanwhile I barely listened to his words because I was too busy questioning myself if I had made the right decision or not.

„Holy shit!", he suddenly yelled and stopped walking.

I followed his eyes and discovered a tall wolf standing on the edge of the forest abutting on our yard, just metres away from us.

My heart skipped a beat as I recognized him as the wounded wolf I had found some days ago in the woods – it was the same pelt color, the same eyes, the same height. His hip and leg seemed to be completely cured by now and he looked stronger than ever.

„What on earth is that creature?", Tyler panted out and seeked for something in the pockets of his pants.

„Don't worry", I told him cheerfully and made a step forward in the direction of the wolf that was considering me intently. „He won't hurt us. He's tame."

„Tame?" Tyler burst out laughing. „Are you crazy?"

He grabbed my arm and pulled me rudely away. The wolf bared his teeth and growled threateningly at him.

„Wolves can't be tamed, Caroline", Tyler spat out and finally found what he'd been searching for in his trouser pockets. „They can only be killed."

He got a knife out and branched off to face the wolf.

„No!", I screamed in panic and put myself in his way. „You can't hurt him. Please, Tyler. He's not going to attack us, I promise."

But before we could get into an argument about this, the wolf turned away brusquely from us and vanished in a single bount into the forest again.

„Wow, that was a close shave." Tyler lowered the knife again. „Disgusting things, those beasts. We realy need to get rid of them in this area if they're venturing to step on private property already. Come on, let's go inside and tell everybody the pleasant news of our engagement."

„Okay." I followed him inside but looked over my shoulder one single last time regretfully.

Although I felt relieved that the wolf had saved himself I couldn't help but be disappointed that he had disappeared so quickly.

It had been nice seeing him again.

* * *

**Sooooo, on a skala from 1 - 10 how much has Klaus' behaviour shocked you? :P Don't judge him right away though before you've read the next chapter please!**

**xx  
**


	12. Chapter XII

**+ WOW, got 12 reviews for the last chapter, you guys really know how to make me happy :D**

**++ I actually wanted to write this in the annotation of XI but forgot: Camille in this story has nothing to do with the Camille that's going to be introduced in the spin off. Since the role hasn't been casted, I don't even know how she looks like. I planned the character of the Camille of this story long time ago but actually wanted to name her Charlotte – after the Camille-spoiler got released, I decided to rename her though because I felt like it fitted better ;)**  
**+++ Just to be clear: Klaus hasn't heard about Caroline's engagement yet. Sorry if this scene was misleading!**

**++++ Enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

_„I dont know who I am, who I am without you_  
_All I know is that I should_  
_And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you_  
_All I know is that I should."_

_~ ‚Where I Stood' by Missy Higgins ~_

* * *

I spent the most part of this night being wide-awake, tossing and turning in my bedsheets while I thought about what had happened today.

After Tyler and I had told everyone the news, Elena hadn't stopped squealing and my father had gotten a champagne bottle out to celebrate the occasion. During all this chattering and laughing my apathy luckily hadn't attracted anyone's attention.

Would anyone become aware at all of how miserable I really was? Not even my parents or my best friend seemed to notice, so apparently I was a better actor than I had thought.

Exhausted I closed my eyes and promised to do my best to have fun tomorrow. No matter how everything went down.

* * *

To my surprise it was my mother instead of Lucy who turned up in my room the next day to help me get dressed for the tea party.

„This is going to be a very special moment in your life, Caroline", she told me and started combing my hair. „Right after your actual wedding, the day on which your engagement is announced is probably the most important event you're ever going to attend. You need to look absolutely stunning."  
I didn't respond because I actually didn't care at all how I looked like. The old Caroline would have obsessed over her wardrobe the whole day and threatened Tyler to not show up at the party unless the colors of his suit matched her dress perfectly but right now the only thing that interested me in my outfit was whether or not it was comfortable and how easily I could doff it in the evening again.

„Are you excited, sweetie?" My mother got a curling iron from the drawer of my toilet table and began working on my hair with it.

„Very much", I answered her dispassionately.

She rolled her eyes. „Caroline, stop it. I don't know why you're behaving this way but I hope you are aware that you really need to improve your jolly face a great deal until this afternoon. Otherwise people will assume we are scaring you into marrying Tyler Lockwood."  
I knew she had a point so I flashed her my perfected fake smile. „Is that better?"

She sighed. „It is at least good enough to fool the world, but not me, honey. If you are really that unwilling to betroth Tyler, then this is the last time to make a retreat now. After the announcement later it is simply impossible to break off the engagement without causing a bigger scandal than your stay at the Mikaelson's estate already has. The name of the Forbes can only stand so much, you know."

„I'm sorry that I brought you so much trouble the past days", I apologized low-voiced. „But I'm going through with the engagement, you don't need to worry about that."  
„But if Tyler isn't the one who makes you happy..."

„Please stop it, Mum." I closed my eyes. I was in absolute no mood to talk about my happiness right now.

„Well, all right", she said hesitantly. „Your hair is done. I've picked the cerulean gown with the round neck for you. Blue suits you always so well."

Blue, like Klaus' eyes. _And like Camille's dress. _

Would they be showing up together at the Donovans? As a couple ...?

„Do you know if the Mikaelsons are invited, too?", I asked my mother, pretending casualness.

She snorted very unladylike in response. „Of course they are not invited. But when has that ever stopped them from coming anyway?"

* * *

Usually tea parties were commemorated outside but since it was currently way too cold for that the Donovans had relocated this one to their saloon and living room where several tables with chairs around them were arranged next to a giant, delicious looking buffet with a various selection of cookies, cakes and sandwiches.

The sight of it was a feast for the eyes and although I wasn't even very hungry, I grabbed one of the cookies and nibbled at it while I joined a group of girls my age, in which I had discovered Bonnie and Anna, for the usual tattle.

"Have you seen Victoria Donovan's dress? So tight it really doesn't keep you guessing."

"... I think the real reason why the Winfields aren't organizing the tea party this year is because they are running out of money. Their son is wearing the same shoes he wore at the ball, can you believe it? That is proof that ..."

"April Young and Rebekah Mikaelson really seem to have bounded, don't they?"

At the mentioning of Rebekah I immediately turned around and searched for her with my eyes. She was indeed standing across the room, looking pretty as always, and talking to the daughter of Pastor Young. Klaus however was nowhere to be seen...

I couldn't tell if that relieved or disappointed me.  
Rebekah also saw me, gave me a quiet smile and waved at me. I didn't blame her at all for her brother's actions so I waved back.

"What was that about?"

Elena arrived at our group in a pale pink dream of a dress and observed me suspiciously. "Since when have you stopped giving the she-devil the cold shoulder?"

"Since I discovered that she's no she-devil at all underneath the surface but someone who could actually be our friend", I explained calmly.

Bonnie seemed skeptical whereas Elena was downright annoyed. "A friend? Are you sure none of the Originals has compelled you to believe that nonsense? The next thing you're probably going to tell me is that Klaus is your lover now."

Ouch. I winced at that. For a moment I forgot to control my expression and to hide my feelings but this one second I hadn't been on guard was enough to tell my friends the ugly truth.

"No way." Bonnie shook her head in disbelief. "Caroline Forbes, don't tell me you have fallen for this man!"  
"Are you insane?", Elena hissed. Her annoyance was now replaced by sincere anger. "Caroline, this is Klaus we are talking about. He is –..."

"Can you just stop judging me for once?", I yelled at her, taking both of them but especially me at surprise with my strong reaction. "This whole situation is already exhausting enough for me without you complaining about something that I can't change anyway. But you know what? You can be happy, Elena!" Tears collected in my eyes. "He doesn't love me at all. So you don't need to worry about that part of the story! Be content!"

"Oh, Care ..." Compassion was reflected in her face. "What have you gotten yourself into?"

"Shh, don't start crying." Bonnie caressed my back gently. "If he doesn't love you, he is the one missing out on something, not you."

Her kind words made it even harder for me not to cry. "Well, I don't know about that. The last time I saw him he didn't appear very lonely."  
"Good afternoon, ladies."

Damon Salvatore suddenly joined us and slouched at Elena's side. "Having fun?" He patterned my shaken appearance. "Or ... not?"

"This isn't the right moment, Damon", Elena sighed. "We're having some girl talk."

"Oh, I absolutely love girl talk! Just pretend I'm not here."

"That's very hard if you're standing so close to me I have barely any space left."

"I would go if something didn't tell me that you're actually enjoying this intimacy and would be dashed if I kept my distance."  
"Keep on dreaming!"

They fought like an old married couple and Bonnie shot me a "didn't I tell you before?"-look. I was wondering if she was right. Did Elena have feelings for Damon? I needed to have an eye on her today to figure that one out.

"Well, well. Now look who has arrived", Damon suddenly said with a low voice.

We all wheeled around at once. The conversations around us were interrupted. Everyone craned their neck to get a better view at what everybody was staring at.

I knew the reason for this strange commotion already before I discovered them in the crowd.

The Originals stood at the doorway of the saloon, glancing around and clearly enjoying the riot they caused.

I had only eyes for Klaus.

Three days without him had almost made me forget how handsome he was. His white clothing suited him very well and he had beard stubbles now that were enhanced by his dimples. My heart tensed up at his familiar yet breathtaking sight.

Hooked into him was Camille, curiously eying the lot in the room. Klaus had obviously brought her as his date.

My hands clotted into fists. With satisfaction I noticed that this time I saw them together, I grew angry instead of sad.

Behind them stood five other men. I only recognized Kol and Elijah; I had never seen the other three ones before. Mr. Donovan came up to them and bowed. "Good to have you here", I heard him say before he engaged them into a short conversation. Most people around us started to prescind slowly from the scene again.

"Do you know who they are?", I asked Damon.

"As it happens I already had the questionable pleasure to come across them." His face darkened. "They are the second Original Family."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "The second? You mean there is more than one?"

"Three to be exact." Katherine's hands twined playfully around Damon's torso from behind. She grinned and fell in with us, completely ignoring Elena's frown. "And if I were you, I'd stay as far away from this one as I could. They are dangerous."  
I got the feeling that her last sentence was meant specifically for me. "Is that a warning?"

"Yes and – believe it or not – it's a deep one." She became a little serious. "I know Gabriel, Camille and the others. Don't mess with them if you can avoid it."

"Enough with this depressing talk", Damon said impatiently. "This is a party, go have fun! There is a string quartet in one of the upper rooms - does anybody want to dance?"

His 'anybody' was obviously adressed to Elena and he didn't wait for her response but took her hand in his and pulled her away. Over her shoulder she made a face to us but her eyes still sparkled. Whatever she was pretending, she didn't mind his demanding behaviour at all.

"Ouch", Katherine mewed. "And here I thought I was Damon's first choice." She shrugged, sounding not the slightest bit afflicted by it. "Never mind, I will go to search for this delicious brother of his then, simply to annoy Rebekah."

With that she vanished into the thong again and left Bonnie and me alone.

"Want to get another cookie or something?", my friend sighed. "Matt isn't paying any regard to me today, I need to drown my sorrows or rather: eat them."

"I can't resist this buffet any longer anway", I smiled although this wasn't completely true: the only thing I found really hard to resist right now was going over to Klaus and slap him.

* * *

Bonnie and I roamed around from room to room, here and there pausing to greet someone or to talk with people we knew. After a while a good looking gentleman asked her to dance and kidnapped her from me. Not sure what to do and still not very keen to go looking for my fiancé, I went to the toilet instead. I powedered my nose and looked distantly into the mirror. I was paler than usual and my eyes looked fiver-bright.

Preferably I had just went to Tyler and told him to get this announcement over with, so I could leave already, but I had promised myself last night to at least _try_ to have a nice time. Damon was right, this was a party for god's sake.

I closed the bathroom door behind me and wanted to go downstairs again, when someone appeared in front of me in a flash.

"Where are you going, beautiful lady?"

I gave a start as I recognized the man with the ash-blonde hair, the white skin and the red eyes – he was one of Camille's relatives, her brother assumably. Another Original. I needed to be on the lookout against him.

"None of your business", I told him roughly and tried to go past him but he blocked my way.

"Don't be rude, precious." The dishy albino gave one of my curls a slight tug. "I only want to talk. Is that such a bad thing?"

I shivered at his touch. He was definitely scaring me. I remembered Katherine's advice to stay away from this new Original Family. "I'm not in the mood for a conversation."

"That's too bad. Because I am and I want some entertainment. But first let's have some privacy." His pupils dilated and his voice intensified hypnotically. "Open the door behind you quietly and get back in there."

I realized that he attempted to compell me and made the mistake to roll my eyes at that. "Seriously, you come into a town full of vampire hunters and expect no one to have ever heard of vervain? We aren't stupid, you know."  
He leaned back, definitely looking angry now. "I see. Well, that's too bad because compulsion or not, I'll find a way to bend you to my will." He covered my mouth and was just about to violently shove me into the ladies room again, when a manicured female hand held him back.

"Raphael, stop it, please. Not this one."

It was Camille who had came to my rescue out of all people. Raphael's grip on my me loosened, even though he didn't seem to be particularly happy about it.

"Why not her, Cam?", he grumbled, sounding like a little child who wasn't allowed to get a second portion of dessert.

"Because she is a friend of Rebekah's", Camille replied sweetly.

"Rebekah?", he spit out. "I really don't care about that bitch!"

"Still because she turned you down that one time? Come on, Raph, that's too immature. Besides she's my future sister-in-law so you have to learn to live with her. Give that one free now."

"Fine", Raphael hissed – and then disappeared in vampire speed from the room.

Camille and I faced each other now. Again she was scrutinizing me disparagingly.

"Thank you." I almost choked on my words and she noticed that with a smile.

"You're welcome. What was the name again? Ah yes, Miss Forbes." She giggled. "My brothers are all a bit ... bored sometimes. They just like a good chase, that's all. I do hope Raphale's not bothering you again. I'm sure that would upset Rebekah. And now please excuse me, my man is certainly waiting for me. We haven't danced yet since I arrived, can you believe it?" She didn't wait for my response and just left.

_Her_ man. Did she really had to remind me of that?

I gritted my teeth and randomly pushed one of the doors in the corridor open, with more effort than necessary. It was the music room of the Donovans that had been transformed into another bar today. Except for a servant who was pouring out strawberry champagne into the glasses of two younger girls I didn't know, the chamber was empty so I decided to stay: I needed some quiet time for myself right now.

I sat down on the window bench, ordered a glass of champagne and downed half of it it in one swig. Outside the window I could see the trees moving in the strong wind. Leaves broke away from the branches and flew through the air. A storm was coming up.

The door burst open again.

My heart stopped beating – and then starting racing again way too fast. It was _him_. It was Klaus. What was he doing here?!

"Leave – _now_.", he compelled the outraged servant and the girls all at once. "And close the door behind you."

He hurried towards me but stopped immediately as he saw me backing away from him.

"Are you serious?", I snarled. "I don't want to be alone with you."

I walked up to the door but he cut me off, just like Raphael had seconds ago. What was it with men and 'not getting a hint' today?!  
"Get out of my way", I said slowly. My voice was thick of fury. "Get out of my way or I'll punch you in the face."  
He was standing too close to me. Even though I really hated him in this moment and I knew that I needed to get away from him as fast as I could – inspite of everything he had done to me, I was still not smart enough to fully dispise him. Every part of me literally yearned for him to touch me again. The betrayal of my body was downright cruel.

"Do it, if you must", he responded resignedly. "I don't mind and I can't blame you for it." His eyes locked with mine. The cold aloofness I had seen in them the last time we had talked was completely gone. Everything in there was pain and despair.

I grimaced. He had no right to do that to me. I was the one who was entitled to be hurt and distraught, _not_ him.

My jaw was trembling. He reached for my cheeks with his fingers and steadied them.

"Stop it", I whispered and closed my eyes. "Haven't you hurt me enough already?"

"I'm sorry, Caroline." Desperately he pulled me towards him. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. I wish I could undo it but it's not possible. I _had_ to protect you at all costs."

"Protect me?", I repeated angrily and bashed his arms away. "Why? You don't even care about me. As soon as you saw Camille, she was all you could think about. You were so damn worried that she would learn about me that you were even willing to risk losing me. You ... how could you do that to me? How could you kiss me and tell me all these sweet lies, when ... when in reality it is someone else you love?"

His presence reopened my ols sores and I felt tears streaming down my face. Ashamed I brushed them away. How much more could I humiliate myself in front of him?

Klaus stopped my hands and held them captive in his. Insistently he looked at me. "Nothing I've ever told you was a lie, Caroline. Nothing apart from my pretending to be glad that Camille returned. When I saw her in the library, I knew she was suspicious why you were at my home. I knew I had to think of my feet and so I tried to guard you against her by letting on that you don't mean anything to me. But that couldn't be further from the truth." Emphatically he cupped my face. "You mean the world to me, Caroline."

His words were balm for my soul. I wanted to believe him so badly that it physically hurt. I snuggled into the touch of his hand and his soft skin felt perfect on mine. "Why are you here with her?", I whispered. "How can you do that to me?"

"Do you honestly think I like bringing her here?", he asked fiercely. "I hate being with her, I hate being apart from you, being the reason for your pain. But I know Camille. She is very jealous and possessive. If she thinks you're a threat to her, she will dispose of you, in one way or another. And I could never, _never_, forgive myself if it was my fault that she hurt you."

"But ...", I protested. "There has to be another way to protect me. Why can't you fight her from going after me?"

He shook his head. "I wish it was that simple. But actually ... if I picked a fight with her family, not only you would lose your life but also all my siblings and probably this whole town. Their destructiveness knows no limits."  
Doubtfully I pulled back. I still wasn't entirely sure if I could trust him. What if he was only stringing Camille and me both along? As much as that thought hurt me, I had to consider this possibility. "Damon told me they're an Original family. But how can they be stronger than you? They're not older, aren't they?"

"No, that's not it." Klaus noticeably hesitated. "They are subsisting differently."

I frowned. "What do you mean, differently?"

"I mean, different from us. They don't take human blood." His voice sounded disgusted all of a sudden. "They're feeding on other vampires."

* * *

**Somehow this chapter was the hardest one to write so far, I don't know why :O Very anxious to hear what you think of it!**

**xx  
**


	13. Author's Note

Hello guys,

I'm so sorry to disappoint you but this is no new upload sadly. I just wanted to keep you posted about this story since I haven't uploaded anything in the last two weeks.  
I've sat down several times and wanted to keep on writing but for some reasons I couldn't. This bugs me so much because it's not like I don't know what to write – I have so many ideas in my head, most parts of the story are already worked out – but absolutely no clue _how_ to write it.

With the reactions to the last chapter & the sudden lack of reviews, I feel like you don't really like where I'm going with this and that terrifies me a bit. I really hate nothing more than begging my readers for feedback but in the end, that's what keeps me going: feedback.  
If I don't get it , I feel like I'm writing this story just for myself and I totally loose my inspiration...

I'm going on a twitter/TVD break for the next month (for several reasons that I don't wanna bore you with now) which means that I'm not going to do any uploads in that month.

Anything I would upload now would not be as good as I want it to be and I think that as a FF writer I owe it to you to give you my best. So please don't be angry with me but give me some time to find my inspiration again. I'll try to upload ASAP after my twitter break is over.

Plus, I've said it so many times but I feel like I need to say it one last time: if you want to read more and if you like this story, please review it. It only takes you seconds, wherever it takes me hours to write a chapter.

Last but not least: Happy Valentines's Day to all of you ;)

Junia


	14. Chapter XIII

**I'm baaaaaaack :D Thanks, everybody, for being so understanding about the break, I really appreciate your patience with me. And I wrote an extra-long chapter for you to pay you back, hehe. Enjoy!**

* * *

_"Can we work this out?  
I don't want to close the door_  
_Before the sun goes down."_

_~ "Say it Now' by The Afters ~_

* * *

„They're feeding on vampires?", I repeated incredulously and raised my eyebrows. "How is that even possible?"

"Blood is blood." Klaus shrugged, his face still creased into a frown. "Nowhere in the rules is it said that we need _human_ blood to survive."

Funny how I had always assumed this was exactly what the rules were saying. It had never even occurred to me that vampires could extant from something different, too. Wow. It took me a moment to process the news but then excitement slowly started rising in me as another realization hit me. "But that's wonderful! It means you don't have to drink from humans. You have an actual choice! You don't have to be a ..."

I cut myself off but it was too late – the sudden darkness in his eyes told me that he had gotten the meaning of my unspoken words already. "You're right", he said flatly. "I don't have to be a monster then anymore. I can spare humans now because drinking from my own perverted kind is so much more civilized, isn't it?"

He was clearly hurt and in spite of everything he had done to me in the past, I still couldn't stand to see him like that. I shook my head in exasperation.

"I didn't mean it like that and you know it!"

"No, that's exactly how you meant it, Caroline." The disappointed look on his face made me flinch. "And you know what? A part of me can't blame you for it. For you and your lot it was much easier if us vampires would just stick to each other and leave you alone."

_But I don't want you to leave me alone_, every cell of my body screamed but I kept my mouth shut.

"Camille and her brothers are apparently fine with drinking from other vampires", was what I said instead. "So why aren't you?"

He laughed coldly and buried his fingers frantically in his hair. "You just don't get it, do you? You are so desperate to find a way to make it okay for yourself to want me that you are not even stopping for a second to try to _understand_ this situation, to look at it from my point of view and not constantly from yours."

"Then explain it to me, instead of only shouting at me the whole time!" By now I was shouting myself but his words had made me so angry that I was not able to keep my voice down anymore.

My hands trembled so hard that I accidentally dropped the champagne glass I had still been holding. Before it could fall down to the ground and shatter into a million pieces, Klaus caught at it in a split second and put it on the shelf.

We looked at each other in silence. For the first time today it attracted my attention that even though his haircut was perfect and the clothes he wore became him just as well as always, he actually didn't look good for a change. He had deep, dark circles around his eyes and his face was more colorless than usual, as if he hadn't slept and eaten enough since days.

My heart tensed up as I realized that he was still the most beautiful man I had ever seen and that there would never be enough wrong reasons for me to be with him to actually stop me from wanting to crawl back at his side.

I couldn't help but wonder if my craving for him was still healthy.

Klaus was the first one of us who started talking again and when he did it, his anger was long gone and replaced by resigned bitterness.

"Do you have any idea how offensive it is to ask me to drink from vampires, Caroline? How would you feel if I suggested to you to drink human blood from now on?"

I was about to respond that this was not the same, that he couldn't even compare those two things with each other but then I paused for a moment to think. I remembered the revulsion and the loathing in his voice when he had told me what the Thornton Family did to survive.

The idea that vampires would feed from each other disgusted him on a level that I was just beginning to understand.

"It is cannibalism", I deduced quietly. "To you it is cannibalism what they do."

He nodded fiercely. "It's the lowest level a vampire can ever reach. It is unnatural. Vampire blood might make us stronger than human blood but at the same time, it makes us weaker in a way that the Thorntons and others chose to ignore. It turns us into complete animals."

My mouth became dry. "Still you have no problem with drinking from humans."

Klaus looked at me cautiously and didn't respond. But he didn't even have to. Everything was so evident now.

"You don't care about humans at all, do you?", I whispered. "You were one yourself once but that was so long ago, that it doesn't even count for you. You are something else now and you like it. You think vampires and humans aren't ... evenly matched. We are simply there to be your blood service but … but not worth to be saved."

It pained me to say all these things but I knew that I had to. I simply had to see his reaction while I did it to check if I was right. His eyes gleamed and his whole body was strung up. He looked as if he was afraid of what I was going to say next.

My statement had clearly hit the mark.

"I should have realized that sooner." I felt miserable and cold all of a sudden. "I just thought ... we look alike. Human and vampires, I mean. You couldn't tell the difference, at least not at first glance. My parents have always told me that vampires have no soul but I know now that's not true." Reluctantly I touched his strong chest and searched with my hands for the place where his heart was no longer beating. "You have a soul in there, Klaus, just like I do. You feel, just like I do. And still ... I'll never be an equal to you, will I? You will always think of me of someone who is inferior to you. Someone who is not good enough. Someone who doesn't deserve to be with you."

I let my hands fall down again and turned away from him. How could I have been so blind? Camille wasn't the problem. _I_ was the problem. I had been all along.

"Caroline ..." His voice broke but then he collected himself again and stepped up to me. "I know this is hard for you to understand but I don't think of you as a human. I never have. You are my exception. You are ..."

"Please stop", I begged him tonelessly.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus again without him distracting me with his eyes, his dimples and his intensity. Why was I even having this conversation in the first place? This was supposed to be the day my engagement was going to be announced and here I was, alone in a room with a man who wasn't my fiancé and would never be because both of us were already spoken for, arguing about things none of us could change and about a future we could never have together.

Those simple, sweet moments we had been sharing at his mansion had been like a dream … and that was exactly what our relationship was: nothing more than unrealistic fantasy. Being with Klaus was impossible for me, even _if_ I was actually more than a toy to him - which right now I wasn't entirely sure of. As deterrent as Camille's "lifestyle" might appear to him – there had been a time where he had loved her. Otherwise he would have never asked her to marry him. As for his feelings about me ... how could they even exist if he was thinking so low of humans in general?  
I didn't know what to believe anymore. I just wanted this confusion to be over.

"All of this doesn't matter, don't you see?" I opened my eyes again and spread my arms.

"We are too different! We are always fighting! It would never work." I choked on my own words. "I don't even know what you want from me and I ... I can't be with you. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean by that, Caroline?" Klaus considered me insistently. "What do you mean 'You can't be with me'?"

I didn't dare to tell him about Tyler. I was afraid of his reaction and curious and desperate all at the same time and somehow I had already used my whole energy up in this conversation. I was too exhausted to deal with him or my feelings or anything at all right now. I just felt incredibly tired.

"You have to let me go." I kept my chin lowered.

"You don't mean that." Anxiously he ran from one side of the room to the other, then stopped and glared at me. "I am not giving up. I hope you are aware of that. I will never when it comes to you."

I wasn't strong enough to control my stupid, little heart which immediately skipped a beat at his words. But at least I had the willpower to conceal it from him. It wasn't fair to string him along. I was taken and I needed to stick to the man I had already made a promise to now.  
"I wish you wouldn't say that", I told him and tried a small smile. "Because then you are in for a lifetime chase."

Klaus didn't return my smile but perceived me calmly. "I'll take that as a challenge."

I shook my head. "Do yourself a favor and don't." I was about to turn around when his arm stopped me. His touch made me shiver.

"You've forgotten something." He handed me my glass which was still half full with strawberry champagne.

Without looking at him, I took it and emptied it. The champagne tasted much more bitter than before. I put the glass away again and quickly left the room. I couldn't bear his presence anymore. I was just too close to change my mind again and do something I might later regret.

* * *

"Where in God's name have you been?", Elena asked me as I joined her, Damon and Bonnie in the saloon again. "Tyler was searching everywhere for you", she added in a low voice so that the others couldn't hear us.

"Where is he now?"

I scouted around the room and spotted the ash-blonde Original who Camille had called Raphael eyeballing me from afar. He was standing in a group with Elijah and Rebekah now but none of them seemed particularly happy about his company.

"Careful, Blondie." Damon inspected me pervasively. "Creepy Albino guy seems to have taken an interest in you."

"He already made that clear when he almost attacked me earlier", I let him know.

"He tried to attack you on _a tea party_?", Elena repeated outraged.

"How rude of him", Damon chuckled. "He really should have waited until she was on her way home again."

"That is not what I meant", Elena said impatiently. "He dared to attack her even though everyone would know that it was one of them who did it. That's not a good sign. It means they are not the tiniest bit afraid of us."  
"They should be." Bonnie looked grim. "They shouldn't underestimate us."

"No, you shouldn't underestimate them!", Damon contradicted. "They're stronger than you think."

"There you are." Tyler grabbed my arm from behind and placed a bold kiss on my cheek. "I was beginning to think you are hiding from me on purpose, Mrs. Lockwood."

Bonnie's eyes grew huge while Damon looked bored and Elena bit her bottom lip.

I came off Tyler's embrace. "If you are being that obvious no one is going to be surprised anymore when we announce the engagement. And I'm still Miss Forbes by the way. We aren't married yet."

"Well, not long and you actually will be Mrs. Lockwood, so what's the difference?" Tyler laughed and didn't seem to notice my detachment. Or he didn't care... "We are engaged if you haven't noticed", he applied to Bonnie and Damon.

"Oh, be sure - we have", Damon remarked in a tone that suggested he would have rather _not_.

Both Elena and Bonnie darted sullen looks at him.

At this moment my father stepped into the middle of the room and caught everybody's attention by knocking with a spoon against a glass on the table next to him.

People around us became quiet, stopped their conversations and eyed him curiously.

Elena squeezed my hand excitedly. "That's your big moment, Care", she spoke into my ear. "Please enjoy it."

I knew she meant well for me and for her sake and for my family's, I clothed my face in convincing smiles.

My father cleared his throat. "First and foremost I want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Donovan for hosting this wonderful tea party. We all had and are still having a good time ... and that is not only because of the amazing food." He gained some laughter and applause before everyone sobered down again and he could go on with his little speech. Suddenly I felt as nervous as I never had before. "And for another thing, I would like to take the opportunity of all my friends being gathered together at one place today, to announce something that is making my very happy ..." My father looked at me now and smiled. Heads turned and Tyler put his arms possessively around my waist. "... namely that is the engagement of my beautiful daughter Miss Caroline Forbes with Mr. Tyler Lockwood."

The silence following his words was absolute, then the noise of glass splitting broke it but before I could see where it was coming from, the jolly chatter arose again and people sought me and Tyler out from all sides to congratulate us. I had to shake so many hands and thank so many people that I quickly lost count of them.

Carol Lockwood rushed to my side, gave me a kiss on the cheek and welcomed me to the family while April Young wanted to know when the wedding was going to take place and what my dress would look like. "Clever way to become the center of attention again, Forbes" was Katherine's only comment but she didn't sound too serious, Matt Donovan hugged me spontaneously and several friends of the family told me how proud I made my parents today.

Tyler stood next to me the whole time and it actually felt good to do something together with him. I wasn't sure if I could ever learn to love him but being here with him gave me some hope that our shared future would be a good one.

Amongst all the felicitators Stefan Salvatore was almost at the end of the line. Just like the others, he wished me luck but the look on his face was concerned. "I hope you made the right choice, Caroline. He is not going to be happy about this."

I knew exactly who he was talking about. Stefan's comment made me finally allow my eyes to search the room for Klaus. It didn't take me long to find him.

He was standing on the threshold of the saloon, watching me with an expression I had never seen on him before.

It was a mix between anger, bewilderment, hurt ... and something else I couldn't classify.

His right hand was clenched into a fist at his side and I gasped as I spotted shattered glass and blood on his skin. I realized that this had been the sound I had heard the moment my engagement got announced – he had broken the champagne glass with his own bare hand.

The cuts appeared to be deep but either he didn't feel the pain or he didn't care.

Drops of blood slowly fell to the ground.

I winced and came within a whisker of flying directly to his side to keep him from torturing himself this way ... but then I recollected that it wasn't my business to take care of him but Camille's.

Instead of her, Elijah walked up to his brother and began to talk insistently to him but Klaus brutally brushed his sprawled out arm away and stormed off with a low snarl.

I swallowed hard. Even though I was surrounded by a crush of people, the room suddenly felt empty with him gone.

* * *

The next days were completely filled with visits from the Lockwoods, dress fittings and the detailed planning of the wedding preparations. Carol and my mother went on and on to Tyler to convince him to wait until spring with the actual ceremony so we had a chance to celebrate outdoors with our guests, possibly at the back of the garden of the Mystic Falls church.

During most of their talk I was only listening with half an ear because pictures of Klaus' pained, tense expression pushed their way into my mind and kept distracting me.

Whenever Tyler made an attempt to catch me alone to get a little more intimate than we were able to in the presence of the watchful eyes of our parents, I feigned headache and escaped from him that way. A part of me felt bad about the way I treated him but a voice inside of my head assured me that I just needed some time to get used to him again and that everything would be much easier for us once the Mikaelsons had departed town again – I was sure that it was merely a matter of time now until they went away. Nothing was really keeping them here anymore.

Would my feelings for Klaus leave together with him? I could only hope so.

My little pleasure trips to the fields and into the woods were put to an abrupt end at the end of the week when a neighbour of the Wilkinson family who were living down the main street lit upon why they hadn't come out of their house for days – the whole household including their servants and their two baby daughters had been murdered in cold blood. They said that the necks had been ripped open with such violence that the heads of the little girls were separated from their bodies when the neighbour discovered the corpses.

When my parents returned from the council meeting which was appointed the minute they heard about the massacre, both of them forcibly prohibited me from going out of the house unless I was in company and it was light day.

"This crime has been clearly committed by one of the Originals", my father told me with his severe voice he only used whenever something awfully bad had happened. "And at this point we are not interested anymore which one of them did it – we need to get rid of all of them. Soon. Until we have, it is too dangerous for you to go outside alone. Do you hear me, Caroline? No strolls anymore for you, I mean it."

I nodded without even realizing that I did – my head was spinning and I was suddenly feeling so weak that I had to sit down. The others might not care who specifically was responsible for this murder but to me it still meant _everything_. What if it was Klaus?

The question got stuck in my head and didn't let me sleep a wink this night.

To take my mind off things, I arranged to meet with Bonnie the next day to search for new hair bows in the best shop for hair ornaments Mystic Falls and – in our opinion – the whole country had. While trying on several different colors and material, we chatted about anything and everything.

For some reasons, Bonnie seemed to sense that both my engagement and the murder of the Wilkinsons were touchy subjects for me, which was why she distracted me with gossip about the new debutantes, Matt Donovan's hair and the mystery that was Elena Gilbert's love life.

"I'm still not sure if I like Damon Salvatore or not", Bonnie remarked while she weaved small red ribbons into her hair that suited her very well. "But give the devil his due: he is extremely hot. And Elena has noticed, believe me."

I looked into my reflection in the standing mirror in the middle of the shop and wrinkled my nose. "So is Stefan. Hot, I mean. And to me it seemed like Elena was happy with him. With Damon she is ... different."

"Exactly! Question is ..." Bonnie stood beside me and examined her appearance. "Which one is the real Elena? And, off topic: is red my color?"

"I personally don't see Miss Gilbert ending up with any of the Salvatores", said a cold, yet amused voice behind us. We wheeled around at once. "Both are way out of her league. And as for the color: only a few lucky of us can afford to wear red at all. You, Miss Bonnie Bennett, are sadly not one of them."

Camille, who had spoken to us, cackled disparagingly. Rebekah and April Young were standing at her side, both looking slightly embarrassed by the rude behavior of their companion.

"Don't listen to her, Bonnie", I said angrily. "Red is the perfect color for you. Whereas it doesn't suit you at all to go green with envy, Miss Thornton."

Camille showed me her teeth. "Careful, Miss Forbes. It would truly break my heart if anything happened to the bride of lovely Mr. Lockwood before he even had a chance to properly wed her."

I shivered at the veiled threat and remembered how Klaus had warned me against her.

It cost me a lot to bite back every further comment.

Rebekah seemed to notice my struggle. "April, why don't you show Camille the handsewn silk corsets in the back? Mrs. Almond here is an excellent staymaker, you should try out some of her collection, Cam. I'll be right there!"

Camille clearly didn't appreciate to be send away like this but she reluctantly conformed to the lively jabbering April who was already leading her to another cabinet.

Rebekah waited until they were out of earshot, then grabbed my arm and dragged me with her behind a clothes rack. "What on earth were you thinking, Caroline?! You cannot talk to Camille Thornton like that – unless you have a serious death wish."

"I don't", I answered coolly. "But I have enough pride left not to submit to her like everybody else does."

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. "That is because you don't know her like I do. You may think what you are doing is brave but in fact it is stupid. As for the future it would relieve me if you could promise me to avoid her."

I grimaced. "I will do my best. But us running into each other this time was pure accident."

"No, it was not." Rebekah smiled triumphantly. "I saw Bonnie and you entering and since I have been waiting for a chance to talk you privately for ages, I suggested to April and Camille to go for a little shopping tour in here."

"Why the effort?"

Rebekah looked over her shoulder to check if no one was eavesdropping. "I wanted to talk with you about Nik."

The mentioning of his name made me cringe. "Please don't ..."

She lifted a hand to stifle my protest. "I know you are out of sorts with him right now. He won't tell me anything but I'm figuring it is because of Camille. If so, you must know that ..."

"He already told me why he is with her. It explains his demeanour but it doesn't make this situation any easier." I cleared my throat. "But it is not the only reason why ... why we can't be together."

"Whatever it is, are you sure ...", Rebekah searched for words to express herself, "... are you sure that you are done with my brother forever? That what you felt for him is gone?"

She asked exactly those kind of questions I had been avoiding to ask myself for days. Uneasily I took a step back from her. "I am engaged, Rebekah. I can't afford to think about Klaus anymore."

"I understand", she nodded. "I understand the complexity of your situation but I must beg you to reconsider your decision. Nik is ... not in a good place right you. And I think it is because of you."

Quizzically I knit my brows. "What do you mean with that?"

She looked at me unsmiling. "I think you have heard about the murder of this family."

Her words felt like a slap in the face. I gasped. "No! No, no, no, that wasn't him! Don't tell me it was him!"

"When we arrived here in Mystic Falls, he promised me to stop killing for the time being here so I could have a new, fresh start with Stefan." Bleakly Rebekah looked down. "And I thought he would stick to that. But the night after the engagement of Tyler and you was announced, Nik went away and didn't return until the next morning – and when he did, he was still completely drunk and smelled like blood. That was around the same time the Wilkinsons must have gotten killed."

I felt ice-cold all of a sudden. What Rebekah was suggesting gave me the chills. I thought of how Klaus had held me in his arms once and caressed me ... and then I imagined how the same hands forcefully clamped Beth Wilkinson, a little, innocent four year old girl, while his teeth tore her carotid open.

"My stomach churns", I whispered without any kind of emotion. "I think I need to go home."

"No, not yet!", Rebekah pled me desperately. "Caroline, I know about the darkness of his mind. I know that he probably can't be saved. But I also know that if someone is able to get through to him, it's you. Not Camille or anybody else! You."

"Even _if_ that was true - what do you want me to do, Rebekah?", I asked quietly. "I can't stop Klaus from being Klaus."

"You could at least try! Talk to him! Make him better. He is apathetic and at the same time he is highly dangerous right now. I'm just waiting for him to do something reckless again. Do you want another bloodbath to happen?"

"Of course I don't want that!", I exploded. "How can you say that? But what exactly am I supposed to do for god's sake? You expect me to change something that I can't. I can't change him, I can't change myself, I can't change that we are both promised to someone else, I can't change this whole bloody situation and above all I can't change what happened to this poor family. So do me a favor and just leave it alone."

With that I raced to Bonnie again who was still at the mirror, took her hand and trailed her behind me out of the door.

* * *

When I returned home, the house was unusually quiet. I walked into the living room and found my mother sitting at the table, her fingers absently playing with an item that looked like a self-carved, white knife. Her face seemed like she had been crying.

"Where is Pa?", I questioned her carefully. "Is everything okay?"

"No, Caroline." She shook her head with a vacant stare. "I wished it was. I wished that for a change I could just tell you that everything is fine and you don't have to worry. But I can't", she blubbered out. "I just can't."

"Mum, you're scaring me." I bolted to the table and hugged her. "What has happened?"

She sniveled and pulled out a tissue to wipe her nose. "The council has possibly found the solution how to kill an Original."

Her sentence had the same impact on me as Rebekah's theory about the murder of the Wilkinsons earlier – I felt as if I was losing ground. I tried to hide my emotional tangle behind a forced smile. "But that is great news, isn't it?"

"That's what I thought at first." My mother lifted the weird knife up. "This is a dagger made of the wood of the great white oak tree which was used in the spell that created the Originals. John Gilbert contacted an external vampire hunter who told him this legend. The legend also apparently says that the wood is deadly for every Original vampire. But...", she remarked bitterly. "... it's only a theory of course. Nothing is proven yet. Which is why I told the others that it is too dangerous at this point to attack them with it yet."

I was anxiously waiting for the part in her story that had upset her so much.

She looked up at me, with tears in her eyes. "But that totally backfired. No prizes for guessing who was one of the five idiots who volunteered to take a dagger and try it out on the Originals first."

Horror seized me. I leaned back. "Daddy..."

"Yes", my mother said bitterly. "Your stupid, brave father. They quickly arranged another party at the Gilbert's mansion for tomorrow where they want to tempt five Originals away from the crowd and get them alone somewhere to finish them off."

"No", I whimpered.

"Yes. It is simple suicide but none of them wants to see that. Your father is so keen on finally getting them out of our town that he doesn't think about the consequences. Even if the legend is true, even if the daggers work, he will never get close enough to one of them without them noticing that something is up. He will die."

Haggardly I looked at her. "We have to stop him! We can't let that happen, Mum."

For the first time since I had arrived she smiled. "I knew you were going to say that, Caroline. My sweet Caroline. I think I know a way to prevent all this from happening. But it's not something that I can carry out." She sighed. "It is a task only for you, Caroline."

I had no idea what she was talking about. "Tell me, please. Whatever it is, if it can save Daddy's life I am going to do it!"

She held the dagger out to me. Her face was grim now. "I want _you_ to go the property of the Mikaelsons tonight and kill Klaus Mikaelson with it."

* * *

**So what do you think will Caroline's reaction be like? Will she try to do it or not? :P**


	15. Chapter XIV

**+ So, here's finally my next chapter ;)**

**++ To the person pointing out that the language in this fiction doesn't really fit the historical time anymore; you are right about that. But it is very hard for me to stick to it, especially when some slang phrases fit so well in certain dialogues... and I'm only human, so please forgive me, I'm trying my best :)**

* * *

_"And I saw _  
_What it was _  
_That I had done _  
_To you" _

_~ 'I Was Wrong' by Sleeperstar ~_

* * *

Speechlessly I leaned back. I was not sure what I had expected her to suggest but surely not _this_.

„Klaus would see through your father. But he won't see through you." The sadness on my mother's face had vanished and was replaced by steely determination. "He has taken some kind of perverted interest in you and we have to take advantage of this situation. If you visit him tonight and sweet-talk him, he won't suspect anything."

„I can't do that." Baldly I shook my head and blenched. "I'm sorry but you are asking too much this time."

I turned my back on her and wanted to escape the room just as her words held me back.

"Why, Caroline? Why is it suddenly so impossible for you to implement what your father and I have trained you to do since you were still so little you only measured up to my hips?"

I paused. "Because you have lied to me. You were always telling of how vampires are pure evil, how there is no good in them." I looked up at her. "You and I both know that is not true."

She got up from the chair and walked over to me. "It wasn't a lie. What we've told you was possibly the exaggerated version of the truth. You cannot honestly tell me that you have grown to care for the Mikaelsons? That you think they are worth being saved?"

In this moment I'd given my right arm to assure her that I believed that with all my heart. But it wouldn't have been the truth and she would have known. "I don't know. All I know is that I'm not capable of hurting Klaus."

"Oh, Caroline." She sighed deeply. "In a way, that is very sweet. It is very generous of you. But let me tell you something: you may have pangs of conscience but be certain that he doesn't. He was very much capable of killing an entire family to satisfy his blood lust and he is going to do it again. Make no mistake about it: a man like Klaus Mikaelson isn't going to wake up one day and be good all of a sudden just because he has shown to feel for a brief second. He might appear to be charming at the first moment but deep down, he is utterly depraved and disturbed. If you do not stop him now although you have the chance ...", the way she hesitated already told me I wouldn't like what she was about to say next, "... you become an accessory to the crimes he's going to commit in the future."

I winced. _Ouch…_ I'd loved nothing better than shouting in her face that she was wrong but I couldn't. What retained me was the knowledge that although I so desperately didn't want this to be true it still was.

Two paths were in front of me: I could either stick to my family or to Klaus. To the people I loved and who loved me in return, who were good and kind and caring ... or to a man I barely knew, someone who kissed me yet was engaged to another woman and who had possibly murdered more innocent people that I had shaken hands with so far.

Before I had met Klaus, it wouldn't have caused difficulty for me to decide what to do. And the only thing holding me back now from doing the right were my feelings for him. As much as I wished to suppress them or to fight them off, they were still there. In spite of everything. Could I ever forgive myself if my fragile, little heart was the reason for the death and torture of more humans? I pictured my father dying tomorrow because I had been too reluctant to do what had to be done. I would surely go insane.

"I'm not going to push you any further." My mother handed me the dagger. "Do what you think is best. It is your choice."

I took the weapon from her hands. It felt cold and absolute. "I know."

With that I turned around and walked away. I had been an undecided bystander for too long now. Things were going different tonight.

* * *

The well-lit Mikaelson mansion was in strong contrast to the inky blackness of the night when I arrived. The trusted side of it brought memories back I had tried my best to keep buried so far.

The last time I had been here, Klaus had come to guard me inside. Now I was alone.

I wasn't sure how he was going to react to my unannounced, late visiting. Of course it was absolutely inappropriate for me to be here at this time of the day but we had crossed the thin line of decency long ago already, so why would it matter now?

"Good evening, Miss Forbes."

The servant who came to take care of my carriage recognized me immediately. I smiled at him and climbed the stairs to the portal. At my knocking, the doorman opened and led me hesitantly in.

"The ladies and gentlemen of the house are gathered in the dining hall", he let me know. "All except for the master, that is."

Luck appeared to be on my side for a change. "Is he in his room?"  
"Indeed. But if I were you, I'd be careful. He isn't in the best of shape."

Suddenly I felt my heart race and I wasn't sure if it was fear or excitement I felt or both. Klaus in a good shape was already dangerous. Klaus in a bad shape however… I had to be on my guard against him tonight. As I climbed up the stairs, my hand stroke the part of my dress where I had hidden the dagger. This was a suicide mission.

With a lump in my throat I continued my way to the door of his bed chamber. I was feeling way too uneasy to bother knocking. Instead I just burst directly into the room.

My eyes found him straightaway. He was standing in front of the fireplace, with his back veered against me and the door, both his hands occupied with a bottle of what I assumed was Whiskey and some pieces of paper he was throwing into the fire.

My entering didn't interrupt his actions. He did not turn around but I could see how he tensed up a little. The muscles of his back protruded.

"Well, well, isn't this a surprise? To what do I owe the honour of the future Mrs Lockwood visiting me?"

Even though his movements were just as composed and precise as ever, I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was drunk. And not only a little tipsy but strongly intoxicated.

Caution had to be be exercised now. It was clear that he was on the edge of lashing out against someone and given the circumstances, I was clearly the perfect victim for that.

"I need to speak to you, Klaus." I brought myself to come closer to him - reluctantly only, because I knew that his physical presence had a way of getting on top of me.

He smirked and finally looked at me. "Marvellous. You are not a moment too soon to join me at this little party." He raised his left hand and allowed me to get a better look at the sheets he was scorching. I caught my breath as I recognized a familiar face on them: my own. He was throwing away all the sketches he had drawn of me.

My heart ached. "Stop."

His smile turned cold and evil. "Now don't tell me that this disturbs you, Caroline. You have moved on and this is my unconventional way of moving on, too. I have no use for those paintings anymore and neither do you."

The next drawing was eaten by the hungry, rustling flames of the fire and my insides were burning just as much.

"What happened to not giving up?" My voice sounded a little lost and husky and I cleared my throat.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess I was a fooling for saying that."

"You don't mean that." I gritted my teeth. "Give me the Whiskey, put the drawings aside and let's talk as civilized people."

"Spare me your conversation." Slowly he came up to me and I had to raise my chin to keep his focused gaze. "I have no desire to talk with you."

My mouth became dry. His eyes were hypnotising me and I felt my body grow weak again.

"What is it you desire then?" I regretted that question immediately but it was too late; his pupils dilated in astonishment and delight.

Klaus bridged the last span of distance between us and twisted his hands into my blonde curls. I closed my eyes at his touch and let him drew me in. This was not what I had come here for at all but would it really do any damage if I enjoyed one last moment with him?

He brought his face close to my ear. "You know what I desire, Caroline."

The smell of him hit me; musk, soap and something else, something wilder, darker and loose. A scent I had missed. How easy it would be if there was just him and me in this world…

His lips started teasing my skin. He pressed them on my exposed neck and sucked a little.

I puled with pleasure at this dizzying sensation. My hands grabbed his arms and I digged my fingers into the soft sleeves of his jacket so that I could steady myself while he continued torturing me with his experienced mouth.

He had no mercy on me - he didn't stop tempting me with his lips which were coming within reach to my own now and then, only so he could pull back again and stroke another part of my skin with them. I was wax in his hands and with every placed kiss I melted away a little more.

"Please…"

"What do you want, Caroline?"

"You", I moaned, unable to control myself anymore when I felt his lips on my décolleté neckline. "I want you."

He was only inches away from my mouth and every cell of my body longed for him to take me over with a demanding kiss. Anxiously I struggled to cross the little space left between us but his firm grip didn't let me come any closer. He held me captive and I was close to wither with unsatisfied pleasure. How much more begging was he gonna make me do to get him?

"That's unfortunate", he whispered to me, his voice suddenly as sharp as a knife. "Because I don't want you."

My eyes flew open. His hands and his lips vanished so abruptly that I stumbled and almost fell down. Disbelievingly I faced the stone-cold mask of his face and saw the determination in it. He hadn't kissed me because he desired me, he had played with me to humiliate me.  
The sudden, unexpected rejection hit me so hard that I had to blink back tears to hide the extent of my hurt from him.

He examined my swollen lips, the rumpled hair and my messed up dress and the corner of his mouth lifted. "If only that Lockwood boy could see you now… If your recent behaviour hints on how you plan on handling yourself in the future, I guess he will have to accept the fact that he is having an open marriage."

I didn't think twice – I raised my hand and punched him directly into the face.

Even although the blow certainly hurt me more than him, it felt liberating to see the red imprint on his cheek. That couldn't undo my pain but at least we were both suffering now.

His eyes were gleaming as he touched his burning jowl. His impression looked truly forbidding but I was too numb to care that I had brought myself in danger.

"Do not dare to ever speak to me like that again", I said with quiet but determined voice. "You of all people have no right to judge me. You have no idea what you put me through and you cannot expect me to not try to move on. If you were even half the man I once thought you are, you would be happy for me, happy that I'm not completely left alone without you. Instead you are only lashing out."

"You weren't alone", he objected without looking at me. "I offered you everything I had. But apparently it wasn't enough for you."

I bit my lip. _Everything he had?_ Was he even being serious with that or was this another one of his cruel tricks? "You are right, it wasn't enough for me", I said, with the image of Camille kissing him in my head. "I don't like to share. But that is another story and my plan wasn't to come here to fight with you again." With a tired laugh I reached under my dress, well-aware of him watching my every move with furrowed brow, and broke out the dagger.

I heard Klaus collecting his breath with a hiss. "Where did you get that?"

"My Mother gave it to me." Our eyes locked. I felt as nervous as I had never been before in his presence, which meant a lot considering he was constantly unnerving me in one way or another. "She wants me to kill you with this."  
Different emotions reflected on his face in a matter of seconds: astonishment, disbelief and – as a last resort - suspicion. "And your strategy is to tell me about your scheme right before you accomplish it? In that case you must be the worst contract killer in history."

That almost made me smile. Almost. "I'm not intending to use it against you. In spite of everything that's happened... A part of me still cares about your fate." His head shot up and I had to take a deep breath before I was able to proceed. "I don't believe it is right to murder you and your family. Neither do I want my people to get hurt in the process of trying to get rid off you. Which is why I came … I came to warn you. And to ask you to leave town. The council to make their move tomorrow and you all are better gone before they do."  
Silence followed my words. I stared down at my feet and avoided eye contact with him, desperately waiting for him to say something, _anything_.

"So ..." I was so tensed up that hearing his voice made me flinch. "You want me to leave town."

_Of course I don't want you to leave town, you fool. I want you to break off your engagement with this spawn of the devil and take me to a place where there are no boundaries and obstacles for us. I want you to ride with me into sunset and tell me silly stories about your past life. I want to laugh with you. I want to be with you. _

"Yes", I nodded. "I want you to leave town."  
"All this effort, all these risks ..." Slowly he took a step forward. "What for? Whom do you want to protect, my family – or yours?"

I shook my head. "I don't know." I sighed. "I have no idea anymore. There is no black and white zone, there aren't just good and evil. The only thing I know is that I will try everything in my power to prevent a war from busting out in Mystic Falls."

"By giving the stronger side another advantage?" He caught me completely off guard by flipping forward in vampire speed to wrench the dagger from my hands.

I made a small effort with trying to get it back but paused in my movement; who was I kidding? If he wanted that dagger, I was in no position to force him to give it back.

Helplessly I watched him playing with the weapon with his fingers.

"That is nonsense, Caroline." He shook his head. "You say you aren't choosing sides and yet you are here. Why?" He nearly impaled me with the concentrated looks he shot me; his whole pitiless attitude was demanding an answer to his question.

Was he really going to make me say it? I swallowed, searching for a way out of this unbearable situation. "I'm not choosing sides … there is no reason…" Even in my own ears, this sounded like a weak excuse.

"Tell me!", he urged between gritted teeth. He clearly wasn't going to let this one go. "What is it, Caroline?"

I hadn't realized he had come closer to me again but here he was, only an inch away from me. The influence of the alcohol seemed to have completely vanished. He was in complete control again and I didn't like it one bit. He drove me into a corner with his questions and I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of reacting just the way he predicted me to react; just moments ago I had let him fool me and ended up being hurt.

I wasn't going to permit him to do that again, not this time.

"I need to go now", I murmured and backed away.

Before I could turn around, he got ahead of me and blocked my way, keeping my hand in his firm grip.

"Let go of me!", I yelled in panic. "Stop hovering, I ... I want to be alone ..."

"No." He shook his head, many times in a row. "I can't let you go now. I need to know the truth, Caroline. You owe me at least that. Please."  
That last word was the final straw.

"_Stop it_." I collapsed. All the stress of the past hours came to its climax and to my complete horror, I started crying. I didn't even try to hold back the tears, I wasn't able to contain myself anymore and pretend as if this messed up situation he and I were in wasn't breaking my heart.

"Why d-do I have to be the one who is saying it first? Why do I ha-have to be the one who is o-opening her heart … j-just to get hurt again in the end?" My vision was blurry but even through my tears I could see the shock on his face. "You have hurt me ... so, so much. And I tried to get over you b-but ... I can't. Even though you look down on me, even though basically everyone I know despises you, even though you are engaged ... I can't get over you. I am not capable of killing you." My breathing calmed down again a little. "If I need to decide on which side I am, I will always choose yours."

He was staring at me, clearly speechless. My heart tensed up. Why wasn't he saying anything? I wiped away some of my tears with my hands in exasperation. "There, you wanted the truth, you got it. Are you going to laugh at the stupid little human and her stupid little daydreaming now?"

I looked up and in this exact moment he took a last step forward and captured my lips, my body and my everything with his lips. It was passion born out of desperation and instead of taking revenge on him and telling him off, I melted in his embrace and tried to get as close to him as possible, to smell him again, to feel his scratchy, unshaven skin, to become one with him.

He muttered something under his breath and at first, I didn't understand him, but as he kissed away my tears, his words cut through to me. "I'm sorry, Caroline, I'm so sorry." He stopped kissing me, took my face in his hands and forced me to look at him. "Tell me you are going to forgive me for being an idiot, for treating you so carelessly ..."

I smiled in tears, completely captivated by him. "Yes. Everything. Just tell me that you don't love her ..." My throat corded up with ache. "Please tell me that you don't love her."

He cocked his head and laughed. "You silly girl. Of course I don't love her, never have and never will. And ..." He frowned again. "What is this talk about Camille and I being engaged?"

I shrugged, confused. "Well, she told me that. She introduced herself as your fiancée."

"Goddam", he swore and bared his teeth. For just a moment I thought his anger was addressed towards me, until I realized it was her he was cursing. "I should have realized earlier she might have tried something like this to get to you. I should have expressed myself clearly when I was talking about our relationship, therefore I am to blame for whatever you may have assumed." He managed to look furious and resigned at the same time. "Camille is _not_ my fiancée, Caroline."

I had never heard a more beautiful sentence than this one in my entire life. His words took a load off my heart and an aching buried deep inside of me suddenly vanished I hadn't even taken notice of anymore because I had become so used to it in the past days.

"She is not?", I whispered.

"No." He interlaced his fingers, searching for words to explain. "Back in the time when Cami and I met, when we were both still human, we grew up together. We all played with each other as children, our siblings and us, and since our parents made it clear that they wanted our families to bond, it was always assumed that one day we would become married. But ...", he shortly hesitated.

"But then what?", I asked, eagerly to get the part of with where he told me what a great friend Camille had been to him.

He sat down on his chair, pulling me with him and making space for me on his lab. "Then we transitioned." He paused and wrinkled his forehead thoughtfully. "I don't remember the time around my transition very well to be honest. It is all very blurry. My mother performed a ritual that turned as all into vampires to protect us against the ... against our enemies."

I noticed that 'enemies' was not what he had wanted to say at first but sitting on his legs with his arm around my waist and just listening to his soft voice was so lulling that I decided not to interrupt him and ask about it later.

"Soon after that, I split ways with my siblings and also with Camille's clan. I met her again a long time later coincidentally and I'm not going to lie to you, Caroline, we had our fun for a while." Even imagining Klaus being with Camille long before he had ever met me hurt more than it should. But I swallowed and pretended nonchalance. "But I soon realized that it was not going to work out between us. We were too different and not only because we were feeding differently. As you can imagine", he made a face, "she is not one who takes rejection lightly. She threw a fit of rage when I left and murdered a whole village afterwards, I heard. Pretty nasty. We reconciled later over the years but it never became serious between us again, it was only a playful affair. Yet in the time we were meeting, she had a habit of, um, removing other women in my surroundings I could have possibly taken an interest in."

Anxiously I looked at Klaus. "She loves you."

"I don't think so. Camille is too self-centred to deeply care for someone that isn't herself. What she enjoys is the chase. She couldn't have me, therefore she wanted me." He fixated me. "When she returned this time, I did not want to give her the impression that I was emotionally and physically unavailable for her. Not because I was afraid she would turn her back on me but because I was afraid she would harm you."

The warm expression in his eyes was medicine for my pain. "So", I said teasingly. "If not for her, for whom are you emotionally and physically available then?"

A wolfish grin spread across his face. "Now, now, Miss Forbes … do you really have to ask?"

"I need to know the truth", I said smiling, imitating him with my fingers signing quotation marks into the air. "You owe me at least that."

"Fair enough", he laughed, then grew serious all of a sudden. "Ever since I've seen you dancing on the debutante ball, I cannot get you out of my head. Even when I tried to shake you, I couldn't. It doesn't matter to me if you're human or a vampire, poor or rich or tall or brunette. The only person I will ever be available for is you."

He told me everything I had never dared to dream to hear from him and for a moment, I was too stunned to move. Then I leaned forward and kissed him, gently and slowly this time.

I leaned my head against his and took a deep breath.

"Can I stay here tonight?" He opened his l to say something but I pressed my finger against it to stop him. "I know it is dangerous with Camille being here but ... I can't return home to my parents yet. I need to be with you tonight."

"Good." Within the blink of an eye, he lifted me up and carried me in his strong arms towards his bed. "I wouldn't have let you leave anyway."

* * *

**This was definitely the hardest chapter to write for me so far. Very anxious to hear what you think of it...**


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